Cameroon gets AfDB €84m livestock, fish farming loan
The African Development Bank
Group (www.AfDB.org) has extended a loan of €84 million to Cameroon to support
livestock and fish production in the central African country in line with AfDB’s
strategies to create jobs and raise household incomes.
The loan, approved by its board on
Wednesday, will support the modernization of beef, pork and fish production,
with significant improvements to food and nutrition in the country.
Both AfDB and the Government of
Cameroon are implementing strategic policies aimed at improving food and
nutritional security, reducing poverty and improving production infrastructure
in rural areas.
The project approved by the board
will specifically target raising standards and competitiveness in such key
livestock value chains as genetics improvement, feeding, slaughter, processing,
conservation and transportation. For fish production, the focus will be on
rearing, conservation, storage, and processing.
While the project has a national
scope, the Cameroon government has identified three main target areas – the
North-West for production, and Central and Coastal for consumption. The impact
of the cross-cutting actions involved will, however, be felt in the other
regions of the country as well.
Key beneficiaries of the project
will be stockbreeders and their cooperatives who constitute 45% of the pastoral
sector labour force, fish farmers, input producers and sellers, traders, women
wholesale fishmongers and processing operators.
In addition, up to 350 higher
education graduates will be trained and settled as business leaders.
The project’s total cost is
estimated at €99.27million (CFAF 65.113 billion. The bank will provide a loan
of €84million (CFAF 55.100 billion) (while the government will contribute
€15.27million (CFAF 10 billion) in counterpart funding.
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