The adoption of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Document (PRSP) by the government of Cameroon is a milestone in the process of reforms carried out by the Government of Cameroon since October 2000, when the country reached the decision point of the Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The government’s policy is to increase the consumption of fresh and processed food in order to reduce food imports and improve national food security. The main strategic objectives are to: (i) improve farm productivity (enhancing the use of quality seeds and technology through extension services); (ii) market starch crops (stabilize urban supply and pricing); and (iii) promote export- or processing-oriented SMEs/SMIs. A special cassava program will be established because of the product’s social and economic importance (a third of cassava production is processed). In addition to their important role in improving food security, livestock and fisheries also contribute to the creation of wealth, thanks to the employment they generate and other related activities, including: (i) production of organic fertilizers to improve agricultural yields; (ii) animal traction which improves labor productivity; and (iii) transportation of agricultural products, particularly from landlocked areas to collecting centers or to neighboring markets. With the support of development partners, the government will implement programs which, by 2011, will help to: (i) halve protein-energetic malnutrition among children under 5; (ii) reduce anemia by one-third among women of childbearing age and preschool children; (iii) eradicate vitamin A deficiency among children under 5; and (iv) eradicate iodine deficiency-related difficulties. The GOC will continue its strategy of disengagement from direct production activities, including privatization of state-owned agro-business and commercial enterprises, while promoting policies that support production as well as the social sectors. Within the framework of the PRS, the government has developed an integrated rural sector strategy that adheres to these broad principles. The strategy aims to raise productivity and yields, thus fostering agricultural growth. It includes four priority areas, namely: (i) modernizing production equipment by facilitating medium and long-term financing and strengthening the human resource base through improved professional training, (ii) developing infrastructure in the rural sectors (roads, feeder roads, water, etc.), (iii) restructuring and strengthening the institutional framework and promoting an enabling environment for growth, and (iv) managing natural resources in a sustainable manner. 207 The government’s strategy concerning livestock and fisheries is also geared toward improving productivity and competitiveness in this subsector, including ruminants, short-cycle cattle farming, semi-intensive cattle farming, nontraditional cattle farming, fisheries, and commercial aquaculture. In its concern (i) to keep track of the implementation of the actions it undertakes; (ii) to measure the outcomes and their impacts on target groups; and (iii) to take any necessary corrective measures, the government intends to establish appropriate statistical documentation facilities on poverty reduction. To that end, the focus will be on operations to collect data on household income and expenditure, on the supply, accessibility, and utilization of essential social services, especially education, health, and drinking water, and on nutrition, housing, and sanitation. In addition to these major items, further indicators will be constructed on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, on gender issues, and on governance. Food agriculture: The rural development strategy aims to increase food output by 10 percent per year, thereby raising both supply and the share of food agriculture in the growth of GDP and of exports. Demand from oil-exporting neighboring countries (Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Angola) combined with strong growth of the urban population (4.8 to 5 percent a year) will ensure that there is a market for food products. On the supply side, policies designed to enhance factor productivity and specific programs for increasing yields and expanding land used for farming will make it possible to meet that increased demand. Thus food agriculture is expected to grow nearly 4 percent a year in the medium term, up a good two points over annual growth for the past ten years. The strategy places emphasis on environmental appraisals, notably the impact studies required for any project pertaining to development, engineering works, equipment, or installation liable to damage the environment, as well as on environmental audits. Furthermore, the government has formulated a biodiversity strategy and an associated action plan. Implementation of that action plan will help promote sustainable management and exploitation of the various ecosystems and thereby (i) comply with international conventions, regional agreements, and sector plans on biodiversity, such as the International Convention on Intervention in the High Seas, the Kano Convention, the National Forestry Plan; and (ii) draw up a contingency plan for the management of hydrometeorological and/or geophysical disasters, etc. The government will establish effective care mechanisms focused on the following strategies: (i) the development of effective epidemiological surveillance sentinel posts for rapid decision-making and adequate response; (ii) staff training at all relevant levels; (iii) the development of emergency operational networks; (iv) information, education, and communication interventions; and (v) operational research. In terms of good governance, populations have proposed (i) restoring the government’s authority, (ii) pursuing the decentralization/deconcentration procedures of public management, (iii) intensifying anticorruption campaigns, (iv) reinstating civic education in school programs, (v) providing more resources to law enforcement agencies to be more effective in their combat against insecurity, and (vi) ensuring an even-handed, across the board enforcement of the law without exemptions.
喀麦隆 · 2003-04-01