Post on 14-May-2015
description
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
Rural Voices of Youth in Enhancing Agricultural Research for Development in Cameroon
By:NTIOKAM Divine, CR YPARD-Cameroon/
NGOUAMBE Nestor, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development/YPARD-Cameroon
DEFINITION of Rural Youth/ Communities • Agricultural Research for
Development(ARD) is a process through which marginalized youth in this case will study and apply in the field of farming to ensure proper output
• About 70% of Food production in Cameroon is assure by small scale farmers where youths and women contribute to about 60% (Ngouambé, 2013)
ARD Objectives :
• Increasing scientific research;
• Reduce youth unemployment;
• Increase in output;
• Reduce Poverty and Food insecurity;
• Etc…
ARD Contribution(1/2):
ARD seeks to feed into the following processes and support the End Poverty Campaign :
The national, regional and global consultations on the post-2015 agenda;
The report of the UN Secretary General to the UN General Assembly;
The UN General Assembly in September 2013;
ARD Contribution (2/2)
The intergovernmental process after the 2013 UN General Assembly.
• ARD will last for the lifetime of the post-2015 consultation process ….
• and will also develop an engaged constituency to build global accountability for the next development agenda.
The MY World survey is being disseminated across the following channels (1/2):
1. ONLINE:- Through the interactive web platform
www.ypard.net promoted through social media.
- 02 languages available: 6 UN Languages, Indonesian, Thai, Portuguese, Korean, and Albanian.
- Belarusian and Vietnamese work in progress.
The MY World survey is being disseminated across the following channels (2/2):
2. OFFLINE:- Through a grassroots outreach campaign in
partnership with CSOs, faith communities, youth groups, private sector organisations and YPARD country teams (35 members)
3. MOBILE:- Via SMS or IVR (free phone number) in partnership
with mobile software developers and mobile network operators at a country level. ( Still to be launched
ARD PARTNER / Membership OUTREACH
ARD partner system has been set up for organisations , researchers, farmers to be able to register and join the ARD platform and have access to:
ARD tool kit to promote agriculture among young people in their communities;
Access to ARD discussion forum and blogs to share experiences in ARD;
Better understanding on how to Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger by 2015 and beyond;
Etc…
ARD Priority Regions’ in Cameroon:
ARD’s initial focused is in 10 regions to 85% of the country`s poorest people:
1. North West Region : Bamenda2. West Region : Dschang 3. Littoral Region : Douala4. East Region : Bertoua5. Centre Region: Yaounde6. Adamawa Region : Ngaoundere ,Banyo7. South Region : Ebolowa8. North Region : Garoua9. South West Region : Buea,Limbe ,Muyuka, Kumba10. Extreme North: Maroua
ARD RESULTS TO DATE (1/3)
1. Online:Website www.ypard.net live in 02 languages (English and French)
• Over 95 members from Cameroon• Over 5 registered partners (IRAD, Plan, UNDP, Energy Globe)
• FB & Twitter account live and tweets by David Cameron, Queen Rania, Mo Ibrahim and Juanes
• Website hosted/distributed by several organizations including: Scouts, WAGGS, GCAP, ODI, YouthMob Brazil, ONE Campaign, World Youth Alliance, ICMYO, Youth for Habitat, Nike Foundation
ARD RESULTS TO DATE (2/3)• Keys partner already involve in:
1. IRAD: agricultural Research Institute, supporting youth’s Research project
2. Plan Cameroon, supporting minorities and sensitizing youth in environmental education (Plants-for-Planet)
3. UNDP, supporting Youth initiative
4. National Youth Council, for Youth concertation
5. Project for improving Agricultural Competivitiveness (PACA-MINADER), supporting rural youth Projects up to 60 000 US$
ARD RESULTS TO DATE (3/3)2. Mobile: ( Still to be launched)
3. Offline Survey: • North West Region : Bamenda • West Region : Dschang • Littoral Region : Douala• East Region : Bertoua• Centre Region: Yaounde • Adamawa Region : Ngaoundere ,Banyo• South Region : Ebolowa• North Region : Garoua• South West Region : Buea,Limbe ,Muyuka• Far North Region : Maroua
Some Youth Acheivements (1/4)
Food production for food security1.In 2011-2012, 5 youth groups in west-
Cameroon, have produced more than 250tons of maize and 3 500 000 eggs.
2. In 2011 in Douala,3 groups of young men successfully carried out a project for producing 600 pigs (landrace, large white)
Some Youth Acheivements (2/4)
• Rural Youth living in Mbalmayo, Douala and Akonolinga, are involve in the production of compost manure with households wasteto fertilize their crops
Some Youth Acheivements (3/4)
Existence of many youth’s innovative projects in Cameroon
Cassawa processing project:- « Ekiliwidi cooperative » based in South-West,
where 10 young women produce simultaneously 10 tons of gary and 2.5 tons os starches per week using artisanal materials
- Youth innovationfor food security in Cameroon (GIC SAC) produced last year 1750 tons of gary (« Gary show »)
Some Youth Acheivements (4/4)
- 3300 packets Paste made withCassawa (« Miondonini)
19500 botles of juice made With Cassawa (« gary light »)
Some Youth Acheivements (5/5)
• But these innovations needs a lot of support to spread out…
• Modernized materials for their activities to be able to satisfy increasing demands
• Technical and financial support are also need to help those rural youth to acheive their micro-projects
ARD Statistics – Results from Regional Consultations(1/4)
• Agriculture Research Institute accross all regions (50)
• Various youg professionals engage in ARD activities (about 25 per region),
• More than 36 school of agriculture under MINADER/MINEPIA supervision for youth,
Mobilization of youth duing the regional consultation
ARD Statistics – Results from Regional Consultations(2/4)
ARD Statistics – Results from Regional Consultations(3/4)
• Yaounde: 26 participants
• Dschang: 10 participants
• Bamenda: 14 participants
• Bertoua: 10 participants
• Douala: 35 Participants
ARD Statistics – Results from Regional Consultations(4/4)
• Information supposed to help the youths don’t always get to them
• Dialogue platforms supposed to be for youths hardly even involve them. When they are involved, they are hardly given the opportunity to express themselves.
• Youths who want to even work in agriculture are not motivated enough to enable them invest in their activities as would be the case.
• Information about what others are doing for development in other countries are not well known or taken into consideration.
ARD NEEDS YOU
• YPARD is a key platform for ARD and has provided instrumental support to establish the discussion forum …
• ……But more can be done.
• Let’s continue engaging rural youth across the nation in enhancing ARD to enable their voices to be heard!
• So, get involve by participating to YPARD, FARA, AFAAS, …. activities.
THANK YOU!!Merci!!
If agriculture is the engine for Africa food security, youths are the fuel to make it function well