Cassava Production, Processing : SW Farmers Get Modern Grinding Machines

300 cassava graters combined with press units worth over FCFA six hundred million have been distributed to cassava basin farmer-cooperatives and common initiative groups (CIG) of the South West Region. The offer was made by the Government-sponsored Agricultural Infrastructure and Value Chain Development Project (AIVDP), which is a project under the South West Development Authority (SOWEDA). 
The second and final phase of handing over the machines to beneficiaries was conducted last 10 November, 2022 in Mamfe, headquarters of Manyu Division, Kumba, (Meme Division) and Buea, South West Regional capital.  The beneficiaries in Buea included Cooperatives and CIGs from Lebialem, Fako and Ndian Divisions.  
The donations of graters and presses aims to preserve the rapidly perishable cassava produce, transform it for income and nutrition, and encourage more production.  Also, “The machines will take off a lot of stress from the cassava farming population” Dr. Besong Ntui Ogork, the AIVDP Coordinator and Rural Environmentalist explained. 
The South West Region produces some 700,000 tons of cassava yearly. The policy of the Regional representation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) has recently been to raise the production rate in the South West Region above one million tons to feed a population of over three million and strengthen their economy. According to the South West Regional Delegate of...