Dr Noé WOIN, Director General of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), has solemnly handed over the stock of seeds (sorghum, rice, wheat, maize and soya) produced under the Agricultural Production Enhancement Support Programme (PARPAC), funded by the African Development Bank (ADB), to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER).
This took place during a ceremony presided over by Minister Gabriel MBAÏROBÉ, on the esplanade of the Multipurpose Agricultural Research Station (SP) in Garoua (North Region) on 13 June 2024. The ceremony brought together the Secretary General of the Office of the Governor of the North Region, as well as officials from the region and numerous farmers gathered in JIGs (Joint Intitiative Groups) or agricultural cooperatives.
According to IRAD’s DG, the seeds received by MINADER are “improved varieties of high yielding crops developed by IRAD and adapted to several agro-ecological zones” in the country. IRAD, in its capacity of secular arm of the State of Cameroon in the field of agricultural development, produced such seeds and made them available following capacity-building workshops for seed growers organised in all the agro-ecological zones in 2023.
Minister Gabriel MBAÏROBE went on to say: “We are here today, not only to receive the seeds produced by IRAD, but also to hand them over to the user cooperatives in order to boost agricultural production in the Far North, North and Adamawa Regions, and indeed throughout Cameroon.” He extended his gratitude to IRAD for its unfailing support for the government’s agricultural development initiatives to ensure food security in Cameroon.
The PARPAC programme, supported by the ADB, aims to make planting material available to Cameroonians in sufficient quantity and quality, in line with the 2nd generation of agriculture and the import-substitution policy advocated by the President of the Republic, and to improve food security in Cameroon.