Grassfield poverty reduction markets, warehouses, roads earmarked for Santa/Tubah and Widikum basins.

More efforts to give second-generation agriculture, development and poverty alleviation a chance in the North West region have been saluted with the Cameroon/ADB FCFA 19.2 billion funded Grassfield project II activities launched in the Tubah/Santa and Widikum production basins.

In effect, the grassfield support project for infrastructures and rural development (GP DERUDEP) Phase II is expected to improve and further reduce poverty in a region where over 70 per cent of the population depend on agriculture for livelihood.

The project of hope; which is an offshoot of phase I of GP DERUDEP has an ambitious plan to rehabilitate about 159 km of farm-to-market roads in the neighbourhoods of the Santa/ Tubah and Widikum production basins.

Launching activities in Santa and Widikum recently; Project team leaders, Muluh Gregory Nguh and Fobuzo Benjamin revealed that the project showcases a huge plan to boost palm oil production with 1,610 hectares of palm oil to develop and regenerate in Widikum, the planting of a new oil mill and rehabilitation of the old mill of the Widikum palm oil cooperative. The basin will also welcome 300,000 new cocoa seedlings to improve cocoa production.

Some 40 improved cocoa driers will be constructed and 1,000 hectares of new plantain plantations will be developed to carry improved plantain suckers. It emerged from the launching event in Widikum that 300 hectares of cassava farms will be developed to carry two million improved cassava cuttings and 10 cassava processing units planted.

Away from that, some eight warehouses and three markets are expected to be constructed to serve the Santa/Tubah kingdom of Irish potato production and market gardening products. It is Fubuzo Benjamin, the Agronomist of the project who told CT that about 288 tons of seeds for multiplication and irrigation schemes to support the all-round production of Irish potatoes in the Santa/Tubah feature prominently on the agenda of Grassfield Phase II.

The project will also be working with the North West Cooperative Association (NWCA) to improve coffee production in the Santa area. Conceived to run till 2018, the project intends to impact on the livelihoods of the population by significantly increasing the income levels of farmers by adding value to their activities.

Its participatory approach has been designed to cover project activities in the selected four basins of Santa / Tubah, Widikum, Mbonso, and Gayama. The respective basins offer huge potentials in the production of Irish potatoes, coffee, palm oil, maize, plantains, rice, Soya Beans etc.