The Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr Taiga, presided over the launch ceremony of the preparatory mission for the Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Development Project (PDEA) at the DJEUGA PALACE in Yaoundé. The mission’s main partner is the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which intends to develop a new investment project worth US$6 million.

The PDEA is a new project or the second phase in the development of Aquaculture, under the impetus of MINEPIA. It replaces the Projet de Promotion de l’Entreprenariat Aquacole (PPEA) implemented from 2017 to 2019, which recorded remarkable results. The project aims to develop needs that respond not only to producers but also to the government’s policy of reducing fish imports and boosting local production in a favourable environment. The project’s main targets are women and young people. Ultimately, the plan is to increase fish production by twenty-five thousand (25,000) tonnes per year.

It should be noted that the PPEA pilot project ended in 2019 and had a production of ten thousand (10,000) tonnes per year compared with five thousand (5,000) tonnes per year in 2019. This new project is being extended to other regions, the West, North, Far North, South, Centre and Littoral respectively. The aspirations are to produce twenty-five thousand (25,000 tonnes) and fifty thousand (50,000 tonnes) respectively in the short and long term.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is currently involved in the development of aquaculture in Africa, and Cameroon has been identified as one of the countries with the greatest potential for aquaculture, as it has numerous bodies of water.