Tuesday, January 18, 2011

EBOLOWA AGRO-PASTORAL SHOW AND PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA'S SPEECH

Often times, some of what goes wrong with our countries are of our making. From the industrial perspective, people who are in 'bundhuland' (hinterland) receive less attention than those who are in the coastal regions. Can this be attributed to the fact that most third world countries were created by Europeans and established industries in the coastal areas than in the hinterlands for ease of their evacuation of raw materials? The present third world states were their plantations in the strict definition of that term and most of the investments had to be located in the accessible coastal areas where exploited materials or finished goods were shipped with ease to their metropolis or mother countries. The point is that with political independence of what used to be their overseas possessions or protectorates, most industrial developments in most African states are still located in the coastal regions and this is not essentially good for the equitable development of these countries. The independent leaders see little or no need of reversing the colonial stratagems. Is it because they are not augural or because they do not just bother? Most lucrative industries are packed in the coastal areas. When any are being established in the hinterlands, they are just cosmetic or are often to woo votes. We have seen international airports in some scantily inhabited areas just because the incumbent head of state happens to hail from that region. I do not want to enumerate scores of them here. What I want from you is to open your up-to-date economic atlases of Africa and read from Dakar in Senegal to Luanda in Angola. Do the same exercise for Eastern Africa and you will see what I am illustrating. With industries located in those areas, the bulk of the population was wooed from the hinterlands to those coastal areas and spectacularly in the once-established colonial capital cities that independent states, particularly those of Africa have inherited.

Ideally, for the balance of investment portfolio so to say, or for strategic reasons, investments should have been or should be widely distributed so that people do not leave their regions to crowd the coastal cities and the capitals before they can have jobs or process their raw materials. Similarly, they should not trek hundreds of miles or kilometers to the capital cities to apply for jobs or have their salaries when all could be efficiently done at divisional or provincial or county levels.  Where many congregate in the urban areas owed to a lack of fiscal services in the rural areas or regions, crimes, corruption and other criminal activities step in.  Africans are essentially not city dwellers and their swarming of cities have caused irreparable damages to themselves. I am not going to dwell on the appalling town planning, potholes and littered streets with battered taxis that scare away would-be foreign investors, tortuous streets with no names and house numbers; the state of housing and general sanitary conditions that are not fit for decent living comparable to what you have in developed countries; availability of basic amenities and many more that will make us sick. They are all shambles and chaotic. Successive governments come and do not bother to emulate Europeans who laid foundations of some of those cities for them. They do not even have a clue on what to do and how to do it. Can they seek assistance from experts or copy from those who had done so well before them? Why are the tiger states and a good number of Latin American states doing better than Africans? It is because they are naturally better planners? Is there a way out of the mess? Are they secretly being funded and advised by the World Bank to not do anything for the present and future development of their states or what?

The rate of effective development and planning could be accelerated. My feeling is that the maps of Africa should be re-orientated so that the north-south orientation should be a south-north orientation for states in Western Africa and West-East for those in Eastern Africa. I have attempted to do this in one of my recently published book Origins of African Place Names. I am not the first as Australian cartographers have been doing this for ages to put their southern continent in the north. If this orientation were adopted by planners and mappers, a strategist looking at such maps will have to start from the less favored areas of industrial developments, that are presently in the northern hinterlands in the case of most Western African states. At least he or she would be sympathetic with the less favored areas that are always located in the north and positive changes could be brought about. When you point this out to African leaders, they reply that they are contemplating on decentralization. When will it be effectuated? How long will the period of waiting for them be? Do peoples in the rural areas not deserve better treatment like your coastal town dwellers and Ebolowans in the case of Cameroun Republic? It has been so for the last 50 years of their independence, January 1st, 1960. Something is awry in the people or the citizens have been befuddled not to see. Or they have been frightened by some autocratic regimes not to utter their grievances.

From my perspective, there is too much talking and scores of seminars and conferences where men and women don in resplendent suits come out to ask their compeers if they saw them appeared on local or national television. What I am saying is that these able men masquerading should change to action clothes, wear working gloves and put action first and stop endless theorizing and hide in air-conditioned offices. That is, there should be no sinecures. Given opportunities must persons will idle around and expect to be paid. That is what prostitute your governance and spur blaring corruption.

Why do I have to stress this? In the post-colonial Africa, the planning of infrastructural development that was started by the colonialists has not been altered to cater primarily for Africans. How many new motorways have digressed from what the Germans started or planned in the Cameroon Republic and Southern Cameroons? This equally applies to a good number of  African states. Some old dilapidated colonial buildings that are not worthy of their names are still used after 50 years of independence. What then do African states present to the world as their tangible achievements? When you bring up a child and it reaches maturity, you expect him or her to get out and build his or her home that is better than yours. The present regime as the Cameroun Republic is still patching colonial developments and it is bound to go wrong. We are not going far but we should take a look at Malaysia, Indonesia, and Colombia that started on the same footing as the Cameroon Republic. They have outdistanced Cameroon in industrial development and the question we would like to pose to the head of state and his cronies is to give us the reason or ponder upon the discrepancies. Let me ask this pertinent question: Why is it that Cameroon has been exporting unprocessed rubber since 1884 and hitherto, not a single tire can be manufactured in that nation state? Their markets are littered with discarded tires from the USA, and the EEC and that is an opprobrium in the 21st century. Why can they not manufacture news ones? Is it the know-how, the managerial skills or capital that they lack? My gut feeling is that the rulers and their cronies and most of the citizens do not love their country or have no clue of what is known as patriotism. Home to many of them is Europe and good banks and houses can only be found abroad. Are they right?

Successive head of states still look at overseas first before launching developmental projects in their countries. Most of their capitals are still located in the coastal areas, as are most of the manufacturing industries if at all they are. Do not tell them to plan and they will cite for you Idriss and past cosmographers as conjured orders from chaos. The present regimes are still patching most what the Europeans laid down. The European colonialists did all those for themselves and not for Africans. The pipes for sewage, bringing drinking water are outmoded, decadent and health hazard. What are Africans doing for themselves? When are they going to digress from the colonial stratagems and plan with their people first in mind? Their nation states belong to Africans and not to aliens. Aliens who came to exploit with impunity had long gone or should have gone to leave Africans to develop themselves. The superiority syndrome of the colonialists should never hitherto be allowed to linger on. If that is the case, Africa could be recolonized and that will be tragedy int he making. Sadly, most bureaucrats see themselves or from their action are seen as modern imperialists. They have not yet made Africa their home.

At the time of writing, January 18, 2011, Malaysia that started on the same footing with the Southern Cameroons and the Cameroun Republic is talking about getting their country to be ranking with developed nation states in 2020 AD. In 2003 it was the plan of their government to ensure that each and every household was equipped with an Internet connection. Do you know the number of persons per one laptop or desktop computer in the Cameroon and Southern Cameroons? If I say 50,000 to one laptop in 2014 you will raise your eyes into heaven. That is the naked truth. The Malaysian are not mincing words as their planning is spartan and their finishes Germanic. They boast of subways when no town in Africa is thinking of light urban railway to alleviate commuters sufferings on muddy, potholed streets, crowded with uncouth pseudo motorcyclists' taxi men with no clue on he Highway Code. Can the leaders of Cameroon put a date when they will be developed and when they will emerge from this melee in which they are in owing to what I see as awful governance and corruption? Is it the manpower they lack? Is it capital or the managerial skills? Can they manage their finances when for almost 100 years their central banks are located in France? Where is that political independence we hear? 

When one or two citizens from these countries are gathered together, they pull out a million plans on solving their vista of problems. When it comes to their implementation, they prefer armchair works and plan on how to embezzle state funds. Most working for the government think it is a given opportunity for them to steal and they do this and get away with it. Why is this so? It is because there is no patriotism, lack of coordination and some regions are being coerced to be part of what they are not and will never be? The people are still not having the feeling that they belong to the state the Europeans created for them. Often, they put their tribes first in whatever they are doing. When it comes to jobs, they bring in tribal men and women and they are not necessarily apt for the jobs hence we have plenty of square pegs in round holes. Most these persons calling themselves civil servants have no clue of the definition of the phrase and what is expected of them. They owe their allegiance to their families, respective tribes and countries.

The Southern Cameroonians (former British Cameroons) have never felt at home in Cameroon Republic. Where they come together, they ever feel being cheated by the citizens of Cameroun Republic.  They feel bitter and often wonder why on earth they came together in the first place. Similarly the 'Camerounians' from Cameroon Republic (former French Cameroun) who feels that he had been accepted in Southern Cameroons does not have ears or have no feelings. He or she imposes himself with bayonets. That is why there is sabotage or lack of cooperation and people do what they are supposed to do wholeheartedly casually. A country or countries working this way is bound to slow down its advances and be looked at as 'bongo' republic. It is like a marriage where the bride is forced to the groom. Any slightest fissure leads to a divorce. This typifies the alleged union of Cameroon Republic and Southern Cameroons. The presence of the armed forces is to enforce that forced unity (others want to celebrate on May 20th) and such had never succeeded for long. The celebration of what never happened is another way of wasting siphoned oil money from Southern Cameroons ( aka Ambazonia). It is because those governments are weak and are not democratic in the strict Greek definition of that word.

We shall not go to what used to be known as the Grand Sudan to illustrate our point but we all know it and we pretend that it is not there. The Tunisians were aware of this until the mounting pressure pushed open the cover of the boiling pot of their grievances. Something could be done in the two states of Cameroon if the pressure of political and economic woes will not be over bearing and boils over. It has to be started as soon as you finish reading this even if you are browsing it while sitting at your dinner table. Force or subtle assimilation should not be used as Cameroon Republic as its panacea. History can never be distorted no matter how long the incident took place.

When an 'A' grade SCian university graduate stays unemployed for ten years because he is not bilingual enough, because he is discriminated against, because he is from UNO-Cameroon State and you think it is a play, I wonder what you understand by the purpose of university education for him and his compeers who are languishing at home? When many of then turn to driving taxis and sleeping al fresco in the streets of you favored cities Douala and Yaounde while scouting for jobs that are never ever there, I wonder what you think each blessed day of our Lord Jesus Christ or Allah? When the Scian students at the only Anglo-Saxon university at Buea keep on protesting for they see injustice and want to right the wronged and are brutally subjugated, you know that things are falling apart. People with more seeing eyes should understand immediately that you cannot buy unity without giving freedom of expression. Where are Scians (that is Southern Cameroons') radio stations or other media in the dominating country; why are radio stations closed at Bamenda for allowing SCNC or any other peoples' groups expressing their view points? How many times are the media of the colonized country closed because they broadcast or interview people who are not sympathetic to the government? Should one be sympathetic to a dictatorial regime that rig votes and sit put, yea kneel before the alter and receive Holy Communion? Even Queen Elizabeth I of England who was hardhearted as her father Henry VIII will not receive communion when she knew that she was sinful. What would become of his or her human rights? You now see when those who wanted to become a priest and were given worldly power are looking over their sheep, the congregants call Cameroonians.

Let me reiterate. The Europeans located their industries and capitals in the coastal areas in the first place because raw materials could easily be evacuated to their countries overseas. Now that Africans are independent so to say, they have not altered what Europeans laid down for their convenience. Are they working for foreigners or themselves or their citizens? How civil are they as civil servants? They still stoically produce raw materials targeting Europeans markets and even import what they can produce locally when looking at agro-industrial sectors? Have they ever heard of finished products being exported? Have they ever heard of protecting budding industries from being competed away? How are they to be developed to stand even in 2100 AD to say that they are industrially developed? Or they do not just care if after them the states crumbles? Will they wait for the Chinese and Indians, new colonialists to come and build houses for them, cultivate their crops or covet their lands and they assume that they are developing?

If you invest single-handedly, the proceeds from that investment are all yours? That is great for you owe no one. You can plow back your proceeds into your industries to grow and flex your muscles. When you invite aliens, they will think of themselves first and if they can suck you dry like an orange they will do so until you are worthless as the Scians are in the hands of Cameroon Republic. In joint ventures, interests accrued would have to be divided and that is no economic independence for an already impoverished country. Have you ever asked why President Idi Amin Dada the dictator who once ruled Uganda did to the Indians of East India who were brought to British East Africa by the British colonial regime to construct the East African railways? He asked them to pack their bag and baggage and leave his country for good? Why did he take this drastic measure? What was your reaction? What were and are still the consequences? We do not imply here that globalization is worthless. The modern type is good but modern slavery in the guise of economic cooperation or forced union is what should be disdained by all and sundry as those are seeds of wars.

Africans still do not look inwards but outwards for their economic panacea and that is sad in the 21st century. How many are fished from sinking dinghies and flimsy boats fighting hard to enter Europe? How many die in containers as their way to enter the earthly heaven, the USA? It should be recalled that Europe and North American states were built by hard work. I know many would say that it was stolen labor. You can still labor and if you cannot manage it properly you will be working like a farmer who cultivates all day long with a blunt plow. He tills hard yet makes not headway as he does not use his God-given intellect the right way. Why do you believe that there is an international division of labor and Africans had to export only raw materials and not finished products? How many tons of cotton can be exchanged for a ton of imported steel? Who told you that you cannot convert your green gold, hard wood in Mokolo or Loum or Yokodouma, Wum, Kumbo, Kumba, Victoria and ship exquisitely finished pieces of furniture to Europe and North America? South East Asian countries are doing it, yet I see many of you importing finished furniture in soft wood from North America and Europe. The irony is that mahogany furniture command good prices and it is the dream of all over there to have tropical wooden doors, furniture. Who told you that saw mills cannot function properly in the tropics? Whoever told you that you cannot establish and manager manufacturing companies with loans from your local banks. I even overhear some of you dissuading peasant farmers from getting mechanized. Who told you that you cannot be revolutionized in your agro-pastoral industries?

When Mr. Paul Biya the president of Cameroon went to the southern Cameroon's capital Ebolowa yesterday to see what peasant farmers produce, he underscored a plethora of development programs that will spur the industrial development of the southern areas, provided there is genuine follow-up and not a political speech impregnated with high promises to pacify 'yes' men and women. Spectacularly, the president promised a gas plant and the deep sea port for the coastal resort of Kribi. We patted his back and awarded him 100% points. Then we were very depressed when it was rumored that gas will come from the coastal waters of the Southern Cameroons and be piped all the way to Kribi for fear of volcanic activities of the weak zone of Mount Fako. The question is if it could it be located at Kumba to alleviate the misery of the people there with their potholed town and high unemployment rate and lack of what you can call industries? Would he not be packing all industries in one town thereby neglecting others as the colonialists once did? What of taking it all the way to Mamfe, the forgotten link between Nigerian and the Cameroons? That area with appalling roads, most probably the worst in all of Southern Cameroons and Cameroon Republics. Where is this hinterland not developed? Is there still fear of Nigerian invasion of the two states? Have planners in Cameroon ever heard of strategic planning? How dare they put a concoction of gas from Victoria, and petrol form Chad and a shallow port in one town called Kribi when they could be strategically located? This is poor economic and tribal or national discrimination.

These their plans make citizens of the former British Southern Cameroons, UNO Cameroon wonder where on earth they went wrong with their unholy alliance with the Cameroon Republic. Every development is for the Cameroon Republic and Southern Cameroons /UNO-Cameroon is marginalized. When the southern Region is being industrialized, do they know that there is a town north of Mamfe called Akwaya that can only be accessed via Nigeria for lack of a simple dirt road to connect it with mainland Southern Cameroons and the Cameroon Republic. We are told that they have never seen a bicycle from the Cameroon Republic or Southern Cameroons not to talk of a motorized vehicle. How would the Cameroon head of state feel coming from that particular town? He had never visited any other city apart from his village, Douala grudgingly and Yaounde where he luxuriates with his tribal men. Is that not tribalism? If Nigerians were to block their road to Akwaya, the people there would be strangulated. How long will they maintain their taciturnity and union with Cameroon? Now you can see what we call blatant discrimination that is akin to Bantustan of former racist South Africa. Another fifty years I hear the voice in the air have to elapse before money is allocated for a road and a minister pocketed? The Mamfe-Kumba road will have to wait for another 50 years to elapse before it could be built. That is the price Scians, that is citizens of the former British Cameroons are paying for bootlegging the Cameroon Republic. Who is to be blamed? Then what will you tell God when He will ask you why you wooed Southern Cameroons with Akwaya to enter the Cameroon Republic?

It was not long ago when the author of the speech below was at Bamenda, the capital of his n.w. region and the largest city in that zone that he only offered a university and planned the tarring of a section of the infamous Ring Road. That was trivial when compared with all that he outlined yesterday to be done for his region and regional capital Ebolowa. Let him be fair. True to say that there are no manufacturing industries at Bamenda, when you cross-compare that city and the town of Ebolowa, Bamenda from a farsighted person, should have had more industries than Ebolowa by virtue of its educated and hardworking population, strategic location, the number of its long impoverished denizens, the high rate of unemployment, the urgent need for decentralization, good climate and development of the hinterlands. Now you see why it is urgent that citizens of the Former British Cameroons run their affairs. It is a known fact that if you do not sweep your courtyard no person will do it for you. If they do it once, it is no guarantee that it will be done year in year out.

Again, it goes to tell the world how prejudiced the government had been towards the Southern Cameroons that had been having a forced relationship with Cameroon Republic since their so-called independence on October 1st, 1961. The promise to tar the road from Kribi to Ebolowa and many more when the Southern Cameroonians of Bamenda have been pleading with the president to have their roads tarred for the last fifty years is clear evidence that the so-called Anglophones are marginalized. They are not even asking for dual carriage ways for heaven sake.

Why should Southern Cameroonians not feel bitter that they are being cheated? Why should they not feel bitter when oil that is sold to fund these projects Mr. Biya has promised people of his favored southern Region comes from the Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia aka UNO-Cameroon. If commodities from your backyard are used to enrich people thousands of miles away when you are barely surviving because you do not have a single industry, would you not be bitter? Of what good is Cameroon Republic to Southern Cameroons State or the Former British Cameroons? When citizens of the former British Southern Cameroons complain some citizens of Cameroun Republic openly tell them that they were not invited in the first place to come and join Cameroon Republic that had its independence on January 1st 1960. How cruel can a reply be?

That is a dreadful reply. It is undemocratic, provocative and uncivilized. Their grievances of the Southern Cameroons must be addressed. The feeling is that they (Southern Cameroonians or UNO Cameroonians are second-class citizens and that their wealth is being looted. If tomorrow they ask to revert to their status quo before October 1st, 1961 as the Southern Sudan Republic aka Equatoria from the Cameroun Republic, would you and the rest of the world feel that they are unfair? The British and the UNO made a mistake of assuming that one can be politically independent by joining another state and that is totally wrong. It had never worked with Southern Cameroons. I am summarizing the feeling of these government-less people, British Cameroonians who feel lost in your sea of French-speaking insensitive people. My pleas with you sir president and your cronies are to sympathize with their feelings and go down in history as having done the right thing and not as beating your chest because you are being backed by unreasoning crowds and France. See where President Lawrence Gbagbo of Ivory Coast who plundered in his election and sow himself as head of state is. He is in prison and was more as articulate as you are. Often times, some of what goes wrong with our countries or the world are of our making. Are this true of Cameroon Republic and Southern Cameroons / UNO-Cameroon and biased developmental plans outlined in the speech below? True, you are doing your best but it is not enough for others.
VVN


EBOLOWA AGRO-PASTORAL SHOW
ADDRESS BY H.E. PAUL BIYA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON
At the solemn opening ceremony
(Ebolowa, 17 January 2011)
Excellencies,
The Governor of the South Region, The Government Delegate to the Ebolowa City Council,
Traditional and religious authorities, Populations of the South Region, Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to be with you in Ebolowa for the opening of the National Agro-Pastoral Show to celebrate this important gathering of the rural world.
• The Government Delegate to the Ebolowa City Council,
Thank you for your welcome and the kind words you have addressed to me and my wife.
I sincerely appreciate the prestigious title the populations of the South Region have just conferred on me. And I wholeheartedly accept to be elevated to the dignity of "Nnom Ngii", that is to say, the Supreme Master of the age-old science and wisdom of this region. I hope I shall be up to that dignity.
I am not betraying any secret by revealing to you that my wife also feels honoured to now bear the charming name of "Nyia Meyong", "Mother of the people".
We also welcome with total satisfaction the gifts, the signs of joy we have observed since we arrived in the chief town of the South Region.
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• Populations of the South Region,
Thank you for so much care and such loving generosity.
I would also like to thank everyone who contributed in one way or another to the organization of this Show. Firstly, of course, my thanks go to the National Organizing Committee for the seriousness it showed in its work, but also and above all to farmers, stockbreeders, fishermen, rural artisans, who in some cases have come from afar, for the quality of their products on display. My thanks obviously go to the elite and populations of the South Region, who have been so committed and have turned out massively today. I extend very warm greetings to them.
For various reasons related notably to weather conditions and procedures, we were unable to complete the various projects envisaged within the framework of this Show. I am referring particularly to the bypasses and the Agric Show Hotel. I want to assure you that all these projects will be carried through this year. My Office will particularly see to that alongside the Vice Prime Minister in charge of agriculture.
People of the South in particular, and of Cameroon in general! For nearly twenty years, you have yearned for this Show. Here then is the Agric Show, bearing hopes for a rural world resolutely engaged in the development process. Indeed, Cameroon relies primarily on the primary sector, namely agriculture, stockbreeding, fisheries and handicraft, to become an emerging country by 2035.
• Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am sure you will remember this,: for about twenty years now, I have kept saying that agriculture, in the broadest sense - that is to say, including stockbreeding and fisheries - is the true wealth of our country and that oil and mining revenues, useful as they are, can not be the sole basis of our development. Is it really necessary to recall our agro-pastoral potentials? Vast expanses of exploitable land or sea, generally favorable climate, fertile soils, many plant varieties, industrious and hard-working labour, and so on.
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The opportunity therefore seems appropriate to solemnly recall the vocation of our agriculture in the broadest sense:
 Firstly, it must feed our population or, in other words, ensure our food self-sufficiency. Is this the case? In principle yes, but in practice things are a little different. Some of our regions are still dependent on food aid. There are shortages of certain products. The result: speculation leading to price hikes, making food unaffordable for those most disadvantaged;
 Secondly, in a country like ours where 60% of the population depends on agriculture, it should be the primary job provider. Yet, we know that many rural people – especially the youth – find it difficult to get employed and, attracted by the “glamour of the city", fuel rural exodus.
 Thirdly, the production capacity of our agriculture remains highly under-utilized, thus hindering it from taking its rightful place in our economy, thereby contributing to improving the living conditions of the populations concerned. That is one of the reasons for the stagnation of our human development index and our delay in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
 Finally, insufficient production of certain goods such as rice, maize, sugar and fish obliges us to import large quantities thereof, thus seriously upsetting our foreign trade balance. Yet we could easily produce more of these foods or substitute them with local products such as plantain, cassava and other tubers.
If you wish, let us now review our plant and animal products to know where we stand.
Firstly, crop production:
- As concerns food crops, on which our food security highly depends, there has been a slight increase in production in recent years. This is true for rice, maize, millet and sorghum as well as plantain, cassava and potato. This positive trend also applies to vegetables, fruits and oilseeds.
But at this juncture, I want to make two comments:
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For cereals, it is clear that we should produce much more to avoid, as I said earlier, importing them. Going by the information I have, we spent 500 billion CFA francs in 2009 for the importation of flour, rice and fish, that is, seven times more than in 1994! We must absolutely free ourselves from this dependency. As well noted in the Yaounde Declaration by participants at the Africa21 International Conference I quote, "Africa must no longer import to eat." End of quote. The main idea to retain from that conference is this: "Africa must no longer import to eat."
My second comment concerns the inaccessibility of the basins where our staple food crops are produced; such inaccessibility is a drawback to their market access. And you, here in the South Region, know well what inaccessibility means.
Increasing the production of crops in shortage and improving our channels of communication with rural areas must now be considered urgent priorities.
- Regarding cash crops, mainly cocoa and coffee, after a decline in production due to depressed prices, we are witnessing a gradual improvement in tonnage, which is more significant for cocoa. Such improvement should be encouraged. Lingering problems to be solved are associated with aging orchards, product quality and, again, maintenance of feeder roads
- I would also like to say something about industrial crops - cotton, oil palm, rubber, sugar cane and banana - that fall within the realm of both agriculture and industry.
In my opinion, we do not use enough of our potentials in these sectors. In fact, I have noticed that each year we import substantial quantities of sugar and palm oil while we have large areas of land suitable for these crops. I also think we could extend our rubber and banana plantations to generate foreign exchange earnings and jobs, and boost cotton cultivation to meet an expected increase in global consumption that is just emerging. I feel we have demonstrated excessive timidity in these sectors. Turning now to livestock:
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- Livestock production is progressing. Beef, meat from small ruminants and pork have reached significant tonnages. But the most remarkable growth has been witnessed in poultry, resulting in a substantial reduction in imports. This observation is interesting insofar as it shows that increasing our domestic production almost automatically leads to a reduction in imports. There has also been a significant growth in milk and egg production. But I am sure that there is still much room for growth in all these sectors.
- Sea and inland fishing as well as fish farming play a significant role in our country on account of their protein content in our population’s diet. We cannot but acknowledge that we have not yet explored all the potentialities of our fisheries resources. Efforts should be made in this direction to prevent us importing large quantities of fish, notably mackerel we are mad about.
Does this mean that in these different sectors, our development strategy has not achieved its objectives?
As a reminder, the idea was to make progress towards modernizing agriculture, stockbreeding and traditional fisheries to increase production and productivity of small farms and foster the emergence of "second generation" production units, that is, large and medium size environmentally-friendly companies.
To this end the government has initiated numerous actions and it would be tedious to list them all here. They concern training, cooperatives as well as support to agricultural development enterprises and rural micro-finance, just to name a few.
Besides these rather "basic actions", the equally numerous major projects or programmes concerning cross-cutting rural sector issues are worth mentioning; for instance the programme to enhance competitiveness of the agro-pastoral and fisheries sectors or the national agricultural extension and research programme, among others.
Considering the large number and extreme diversity of these actions and programs, it is difficult today to make an overall assessment of our strategy.
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While unquestionable results have been obtained in some areas, the overall impression is that of excessive fragmentation and a certain lack of coherence.
The time has come to resolutely put into practice the comprehensive agricultural policy which I have often wished for publicly. I enjoin the ministries concerned to move in that direction immediately and I want substantial results.
I urge them to make every effort to ensure our food security, create jobs in rural areas, reduce our imports and boost exports of agricultural products, for our agriculture broadly speaking to play its role as prime mover of the national economy.
Let us attempt an analysis of the factors likely to give fresh impetus to our agriculture.
Our rural sector development policy needs to resolve the thorny problem of inadequate funding, whether concerning public or private investment. We must also address various other anomalies such as:
 lack of improved plant and animal material;
 difficult access to land;
 weak support;
 poor land yield;
 magnitude of post-harvest losses;
 inaccessibility of producing areas;
 lengthy payment procedures; and
 mismatch between the market system and the agricultural calendar.
These are compounded by the effects of climate change.
Apart from this last constraint to which we can only adapt, all the others require urgent and appropriate responses. The most important include:
 establishment of a fertilizer production unit;  commissioning of the agricultural machines assembly plant under construction here in Ebolowa;
 rehabilitation of seed farms;
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 preparation of land reform to meet the requirements of second generation agriculture;
 construction of agro-pastoral and fishing product markets and purchasing cooperatives;
 reform of agricultural training and education;
 strengthening the mechanism for financing rural activities by opening a Farmers’ Bank and SME/SMI Bank.
I therefore call on the various ministries and services in charge of our rural development to take up these issues and adopt measures to implement them as soon as possible.
Furthermore, the development of rural areas entails opening up agricultural production areas and implementing major structuring projects.
Accordingly, I have decided that the following roads will be paved:
 Ebolowa-Kribi via Akom II;
 Ebolowa-Kribi via Lolodorf, as part of the Kribi industrial port complex;
 Olama-Lolodorf;
 Sangmelima-Ouesso via Djoum for which funding is available;
 Ebolowa-Sangmelima via Mengong, on which work will start this year.
I have also decided to get started, as soon as possible, the construction of a number of facilities, notably as you know the:
 Memve'ele hydroelectric dam and Kribi deepsea port;
 Mekin hydroelectric dam;
 Kribi gas power plant.
Regarding health, a medical imaging centre has been operational in Ebolowa since last year. As for the hemodialysis centre, work will be launched soon, since the contract has already been awarded. Furthermore, the Sangmelima referral hospital will be delivered this year.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
My dear compatriots of the rural world;
I hope this Show will mark the beginning of the revival of our agricultural policy. Despite the strict fiscal discipline which we must observe, a special financial effort will be made by the State to support agriculture, stockbreeding and fisheries in the coming financial years. We can thus hope, as I said earlier, that these activities will become the prime movers of our economy and play a vital role in our march towards emergence.
It should be noted that the implementation of this comprehensive agricultural policy and rural development requirements that I have just mentioned will undoubtedly need to be supplemented by international cooperation.
I would therefore like to specially recognize the presence at this Show of Representatives of international organizations and Cameroon’s friendly countries and thank them for supporting us in this domain.
Our international partners can rest assured that they will always find in our country, not only conducive natural factors, but also hard working people and a favourable environment, based on stable institutions and a firm determination to develop our agriculture.
Before concluding, I wish to pay a befitting tribute to our farmers, and particularly rural women who are sparing no effort in all links of the agro-pastoral production chain, thereby ensuring that we eat our fill.
Agriculture, I repeat, is our real wealth.
To conclude, I would like once again to address all those who have come to Ebolowa from far and wide to exhibit the fruit of their labour. I wish to thank them once again, congratulate them and remind them that all Cameroonians- I repeat all Cameroonians- are children or grandchildren of farmers, stockbreeders, fishermen and rural artisans and they must be proud of it. That is why we are in solidarity with them and they can count on us.
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All together, let us therefore solemnly undertake, here and now, to strive resolutely to ensure that the new agricultural policy that I have just defined starts becoming a reality within the next six months. That way, Cameroon which nature has so generously endowed will consolidate its role and place as Central Africa’s bread basket.
Long live the Ebolowa National Agro-pastoral Show!
Long live the South Region!
Long live Cameroon!

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About the Author: Viban Viban NGO, a Canadian You may contact him for further information by writing to him on Email vibanngo@yahoo.com URL http://www.flagbookscanadainternationalinc.com