Salvage The Sector!

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Salvage The Sector!

30 sept. 2021 18:07

The piggery sector in Cameroon has gone through tough moments within the past few months following the outbreak of the African swine fever in most parts of the production basins. The largest production basin in the country, which is the West Region suffered the highest casualties. The sector has lost herds of over 150,000 heads of pigs in concrete terms and about FCFA 500 million in financial terms. This represents a huge loss to the pig farmers, most of whom are small subsistence producers who depend on the activity for survival.

The outbreak of the ravaging African swine fever has once again brought to the bare the vulnerability of the sector. Damages like in the previous years, have been recorded and the famers as usual bear the brunt. As the actors of the sector prepare to put together the remaining pieces left of the sector for a revival, the government must as a matter of urgency wade in to salvage the sector. It is a truism that the government has announced the importation of some 100 new fast and high reproducing species through the Livestock Development Project (PRODEL) to distribute to producers for free. While we laud such initiative coming on the heels of a ravaging crisis, popular opinion however holds that the effort is largely insufficient to cover for the loss. The 100 new breed is largely inadequate to 220,000 families that depend on pig rearing for a living to relaunch activities. It is also incumbent for the State to compensate producers who were affected by the African swine fever.

The Inter-professional association of pig farmers has also indexed the PRODEL project for providing financial and technical assistance only to large producers while side-lining subsistence producers who constitute a bulk of the production chain put together. It is the legitimate right of the association to advoc...