In order to eliminate agro-industries importation of raw materials (maize, cassava and sorghum) while increasing domestic quality and sufficient quantity of such raw materials, the Agricultural Investment and Market Development Project (PIDMA) solves the equation. The project is a partnership between Cameroon government and World Bank aiming to work closely with cooperatives to produce sufficient and quality cassava, maize and sorghum for agro-industries. The main objective of the project is to transform agriculture from subsistence and low-yielding for maize and cassava sub-sectors to a market-oriented with competitive value chains. The project will provide financial and technical support to production, processing and marketing of agricultural products, support seed production and carry out project coordination and management in cooperatives. This was revealed in a forum that connected and involved several stakeholders including financial institutions and agro-industries. Farmers registered with cooperatives will benefit from the five-year project that will assist 300 cooperatives draw up business plans that will qualify them for financial support. PIDMA provides 50 per cent of the project cost, banks 40 per cent and cooperatives chip in 10 per cent, after drawing up convincing business plans. Once after production, cooperatives can decide to transform harvests to raw materials needed by agro-industries for processing. PIDMA project will boost cassava and maize production per hectare: cassava production will increase from between 10 and 15 tons per hectare to 20 and 40 tones, while maize will rise from two tones to between four and eight tons per hectare.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201507062905.html
http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3222e/i3222e16.pdf