The Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr. Taiga, and the representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Mr. Kageyama Tadashi, officially signed the Minutes of the Project for the Promotion of the Inland Fish Farming Sector (PROFIP). Four (04) regions will benefit from this draft agreement: these are the Centre, Littoral, South and West regions.

Speaking to the press, the representative of (JICA) Kageyama Tadashi said that “this project will contribute to the training and capacity building of fish farmers. According to him, fish is a widely consumed protein in Cameroon but the monitoring in production is still on a low scale. This project will therefore boost the quality of fish production and thus promote the policy of import-substitution.”

During the exchanges, the Minister in charge of Livestock, returned to the good partnership between Cameroon and Japan. The cooperation between the two countries is oriented between the increase of social and development projects, and the social dimension, the construction of high-quality primary schools in the ten regions of the country. In addition, Japan supports Cameroon in strengthening food self-sufficiency through, inter alia, the project for the development of irrigated rice cultivation and the modernization of the Autonomous Port of Douala; not to mention the training of staff in the field of fisheries and aquaculture: indeed, many MINEPIA executives are trained each year by Japan. We have also the construction of the Community Artisanal Fishing Center of Kribi (CECOPAK) inaugurated in July 2006, a donation from the Japanese Government in the amount of 2 billion CFA francs.

It should be noted that the Project for the Promotion of the Inland Fish Farming Sector is part of the improvement of food self-sufficiency through the increase of fish production in the Cameroun.De more, It should be recalled in this regard, that the Project follows the desire of the Japanese Government to support the Cameroonian Government in the development and improvement of aquaculture production.

At the end of this meeting, the Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr. Taïga reiterated his commitment to the good conduct of this project: “I assure you of my commitment and the support of the competent services of the Ministry for which I am responsible so that this project contributes to the harmonious development of fish farming in Cameroon,” he said.

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