Agric Infrastructure, Value Chain Dev’t : Over FCFA 11.3 Billion To Finalalize Projects

The Agriculture Infrastructure and Value Chain Development Project (AIVDP) jointly funded by the Islamic Development Bank and the government of Cameroon under the auspices of the South West Development Authority (SOWEDA) has adopted a work plan and a budget amounting to over FCFA 11.3 billion. The project which is due to end in July 2025 is evaluated at 70 per cent physical realization and 58 per cent financial realization. The examination of the work plan and the budget for the next few months of the project’s life span were made in Buea, South West Region, on March 7, 2025, during the 10th Project Steering Committee Meeting chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbairobe. 
According to the Project Coordinator, Dr Besong Ntui Ogork, who doubles as SOWEDA’s General Manager, a lot of projects activities are ongoing on the field and would be completed in the next few months. By the end of the project in July, Dr Ogork said, implementation would jump to at least 95 per cent. The socio-political crisis in the region, he lamented, posed a major challenge to the project implementation.
While addressing project steering committee members in the presence of South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, the Minister Mbaïrobe was optimistic that the Region’s processing and transformation capacity of some agricultural products like cassava, palm oil and cocoa will witness a significant increase following the commissioning of processing units within the ambit of the project. This, Mr Mbairobe intimated, will be a key milestone in the country’s quest to boost industrialization of the economy and move towards achieving the goal of becoming an emerging economy by 2035. 
He outlined the achievements of the AIVDP till date, which includes, the construction of 219km of feeder roads (40 per cent), construction of 20 out of 30 rural market infrastruc...