PULCCA project: SOWEDA outlines efforts in combatting food insecurity as implementing partner.

SOWEDA presented the achievements during a press conference held to provide journalists with information about the institution’s role in the project.

The Emergency Project to Combat the Food Crisis in Cameroon is a multi-million-dollar initiative, with substantial funding from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA Credit No.7116-CM).

The initiative is in response to the pressing challenge of food insecurity that has taken hold in several regions of Cameroon, exacerbated by ongoing conflict and instability. 

The project aims to bolster food security through a comprehensive approach that involves training farmers, giving them farm inputs, processing equipment in the agriculture, livestock and aquaculture domains to empower individuals and communities achieve lasting self-reliance in the face of adversity.

SOWEDA's mandate as an implementing partner of the PULCCA project in the region is to strengthen the productive capacities of small-scale farmers to combat food insecurity at its roots. 

The focal point of PULCCA at SOWEDA, Teba Abel, explained that the institution achieved their goal by acquiring and distributing essential production kits to vulnerable individuals, providing them with the necessary resources to cultivate crops and raise livestock, thereby fostering self-sufficiency and resilience. 

The project focuses on empowering vulnerable individuals rather than solely targeting groups, by providing customised production kits to individuals in need, ensuring that assistance is adapted to their specific circumstances and needs. 

Individuals involved in farming received production kits like cassava cuttings, potato seedlings, maize seeds, and plantain plantlets, complemented by essential inputs such as fertilizers and herbicides.

In the area of livestock and aquaculture, beneficiaries received support for milk production, poultry farming, piggery, small ruminants, honey production, and the construction of solar-powered boreholes to guarantee reliable access to water, a critical resource for livestock and overall well-being.

SOWEDA through the project has offered farmers comprehensive training modules to give them the knowledge and skills necessary to optimise their production and attain self-sufficiency. 

The Focal Point revealed that the project had trained 10 master trainers and 116 facilitators in crop production, and six master trainers and 68 facilitators in livestock thus creating a network of experts who can provide ongoing support and guidance to farmers at the local level.

Teba Abel thus revealed that thousands of farmers have received vital resources, including 5500kg of maize seeds to 812 persons, 3,985,000 cassava cuttings distributed to 1,594 beneficiaries, and 398,800 plantain plantlets distributed to 997 vulnerable persons. 

In addition to the said seedlings distributed to farmers, the project will distribute 148 cassava graters, 141 maize threshing machines, and 510 plantain cutters to farmer groups in the South West Region.

The PULCCA project which officially took off in 2023, will run for three years. It has largely achieved its goal of acquiring and distributing seeds and fertilizers to farmers. 

In the livestock and aquaculture domain, the project team said everything is in place for the beneficiaries to receive the needed support in 2025.

The Project focal point at SOWEDA assured the media professionals that the Director General had given them a freehand to implement the project. 

In this light, he said they had outlined measures to ensure that as the project ends in 2025, the beneficiaries in particular and the population in general will feel the impact of the project through the availability of foodstuff.

The project targets Fako, Meme, Ndian, Manyu and Lebialem Divisions in the South West Region. It covers 16 of the 31 councils in the region.

SOWEDA was selected as the implementing partner of the project in the region due to its deep-rooted understanding of the region's unique challenges and opportunities and its unwavering commitment to sustainable development and community empowerment.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3326 of Friday December 20, 2024