Roots and Tubers National Development Project
General presentation
Roots and Tubers (R&T) occupy 70% of farmland in Cameroon and account for 46% of subsistence crops. In 2000, R&T production reached 5 million tons, including 2 million tons of cassava. In addition to cassava, R&T include macabo/taro, yam, sweet potato and potato. 90% of R&T producers and small processors are women. The development of this sector is a key component of the country’s rural development strategy aiming for an annual growth of 7% of the agricultural production, as set by the government. R&T are also crucial to ensure food security and to boost rural employment. Yet, several constraints thwart the development of R&T. These are:
- a poorly organized marketing system
- technical weaknesses in post-crop processing, and
- limited productivity and low production.
In addition, there are water shortages and poor R&T transportation and stocking systems. PNDRT covers the country’s five agro-ecological areas (the North, the Adamoua Plateau, the Western High Plateau, the Low Coastal areas and the Southern Plateau). It intervenes in villages upon request by R&T farmers, as well as over the basins (neighboring villages that have a common agricultural system and marketing strategy).
The overall project goal is to improve food security and increase income in poor rural areas by developing the R&T sector. The program has adopted a market-based strategy that builds the capacities of small R&T farmers and processors - 90% of whom are women – in organizing themselves in the villages, the basin, the district and the country and in developing their production and processing activities in such a way as to answer the demand from consumers.
More specifically, the programme aims to:
- build the capacities of small R&T producers and processors, in order to build strong peasant organizations and to efficiently plan and manage the development of the sector in an integrated, open and durable manner;
- to allow R&T producer organizations durable access to local, national and sub-regional markets;
- to allow R&T women producers and processors durable access to adequate post-harvest treatment and processing techniques in order to meet the demand of consumers;
- to make a significant contribution to an increase in R&T production through improved techniques that answer market needs and may be widely adopted by poor R&T producers.
Components
In total, the programme has four components:
- Component 1: Capacity building and support to the structuring of peasant organizations;
- Component 2: Support to marketing and managing of micro-enterprises;
- Component 3: Support to the production and processing/post-harvesting and finally
- Component 4: Program management and coordination.
Duration:
2004-2013
Total amount:
2,170,000 USD
Address
M. Thomas NGUE BISSA
National coordinator
PO BOX 1538 - Yaounde Cameroon
Tel : +237 222 73 25/+237 991 73 95
Fax : +237 222 73 25
Email : nguebissafr@pndrt-cm.org