From 15 to 16 January 2024, officials from the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA) held their traditional consultation meeting with central and decentralised services and structures under their supervision and attached to them at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports in Yaoundé. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries. It was an opportunity for Dr Taïga to take stock of the year 2023 and above all to draw up a roadmap of activities for 2024, as well as the implementation of the strategic import-substitution plan in the livestock, fisheries and animal industries sub-sector. “At the end of the discussions and explanations, we need to come away from this consultation with a good definition of the import-substitution concept. It should be a concept that everyone understands, so that it becomes the essential basis of our activities in the field”, emphasised Dr Taïga. He also insisted on the contribution and support of the private sector to ensure that the results are easily achieved. He went on to point out that while milk and fish are certainly widely consumed products, health and food safety are of vital importance to the development of livestock production.

In order to carry out this mission effectively, MINEPIA officials and technical and financial partners worked together in a working group to enable each participant to make a contribution in line with the various programmes identified, namely: the development of animal industries, the improvement and health coverage of livestock and the fight against zoonoses; the development of fisheries production; and governance and institutional support.

At the end of the meeting, a number of presentations, discussions and clarifications were made and a number of recommendations were adopted, in particular: the intensification throughout the country of campaigns to disseminate the integrated plans for import-substitution in the agropastoral and fisheries sectors, in accordance with MINEPIA’s strategic plan, with a view to their implementation; the creation within MINEPIA of a special window to support the private sector; the effective strengthening of MINEPIA’s import-substitution monitoring mechanism at national and regional level; an exhaustive inventory of MINEPIA’s import-substitution activities at national and regional level. The creation within MINEPIA of a special window to support the private sector; the effective reinforcement of the MINEPIA import-substitution monitoring mechanism at national and regional level; an exhaustive census of all maritime and continental fisheries must be carried out by the decentralised services; the popularisation of the national dairy plan to allow its appropriation by all stakeholders and the search for funding for the operationalisation of the said plan; The staff of the supervised, attached and decentralised services must further enrich the balance sheet of achievements presented by the directors of the central services; the strengthening of consultations between MINEPIA and MINADER must be stepped up to ensure the coherence of maize and soya production objectives, which are essential for animal production.Measures must be taken in the Far North region to ensure that vaccination campaigns for small ruminants continue with the support of the ICRC. Lastly, the training of staff in the decentralised services should be taken into account for the monitoring and implementation of activities.

The proceedings of this annual consultation meeting were under the technical supervision of Secretary General JAJI Manu GUIDADO and moderated by MINEPIA Inspector General Dr ENGAMBA Philippe Didier. Representatives from MINADER, MINEPAT and CAMPOST also took part.