A related agreement was signed on Tuesday 18 June 2024 in Yaoundé between Dr Taiga and the Managing Director of Commercial Bank-Cameroon (CBC). The overall budget for this agreement is FCFA 6.3 billion, which will be made available to the financial operators selected by Commercial Bank-Cameroon to finance very small, small and medium-sized enterprises and star-ups, as well as projects initiated by women to facilitate the development of the production chain in the field of livestock and fish farming. “CBC is very honoured to have been chosen from among several candidates to be the financial operator for this project, which follows on from the project to finance the agricultural value development chain piloted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development”, said Jean Elisé GOUATER. This agreement provides solutions to the problems of financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in general, and for the livestock and fish farming value chains, which are important economic levers for growth and the fight against youth poverty.

For Dr Taiga, the agreement is essentially aimed at finding resources to finance productive investment activities. “We want to see the banks finance the entire livestock and fish farming production chain,” he said. The MINEPIA is therefore launching a vibrant appeal to all young entrepreneurs with projects in this field to approach the CBC and partner microfinance institutions in order to benefit from financing according to clearly defined eligibility criteria. The choice of the CBC is due to the fact that this Bank has already granted financing of 8 billion FCFA in the past for the benefit of small and medium-sized agro-pastoral enterprises in 2023. The ceremony on 18 June was attended by other members of the government, including the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Finance.