They signed an MOU Friday to set up agricultural-enhancing projects in the locality.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) and the Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) have gone into partnership to boost modern agriculture in Lom-Pangar so that the agricultural-based population displaced by the construction of the dam would have a means of better livelihood. Minader boss, Essimi Menye and the General Manager of Edc, Théodore Nsangou signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect in Yaounde on Friday December 21 to materialise the dream.

By the MoU, the two signatories are going to develop a new approach to produce food crops, preserve and valorise them for the good of the population. According to Essimi Menye, getting there will require a number of things. "Settling farmers, training them, supervising and giving advice. As at now, we don't yet have the capacity to implement everything programmed in the ministry. It is an opportunity to work with EDC to jump-start some pillars of new generation agriculture and hopefully, we shall be setting up new agricultural extension with people to run them, basic equipment as well as specific services to help conduct production in those areas for small-holder farmers," the Minister said.

Mr. Essimi Menye said the approach will have Lom Pangar as a testing ground after which it will be taken across the national territory so that farmers seize from producing mainly for hand to mouth. The innovation, he added, will bring together all the entities of modern agriculture in one place so that farmers in need of fertilizer, for example, can readily get it as well as those in need of storage. "What we will be doing in Lom Pangar is an example of what is supposed to be done all over the country to show that Cameroonians can live and let others live with agriculture," the Minister noted.

To Théodore Nsangou, the MoU comes after others reached with other ministries with the goal of making life complete in Lom-Pangar. "This is one of the exigencies of the World Bank, one of our donor agencies, to make Lom Pangar not only a project to boost energy supply, but also an example of a perfect social and environmental management, within which agriculture occupies a pride of place," he said.