The Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr. Taïga, chaired this Thursday, July 03, 2025, the celebration of World Milk Day, in the premises of the Technical Directorates of MINEPIA.

For the 2025 edition, the global theme is: “Let’s embrace the power of dairy“. The theme aims not only to express the nutritional benefits of milk for the health of human and animal populations, but also to highlight its economic, social and cultural power.

At the national level, the theme of this Day is based on “the issues andchallenges of the development of thedairy sector within the framework of the import-substitution policy “.

In front of the press, MINEPIA did not fail to recall the challenges of the dairy sector in its contribution to food security, and even more so to food safety: “Themajor challenge is to ensure that the Cameroonian dairy sector gradually participates in meeting the demand for primaryfood and food production.“To achieve a significant contribution rateof at least 50% of this need over aperiod of 20 years,” he said.

It is in this context that the Cameroonian government plans to set up a number of actions to improve the development of this sector, including:

• the distribution of production materials and equipment (milking and calving machines), collection (milk cans) and processing (churns and skimmers) for the benefit of actors in the dairy sector;
• the inauguration of the first UHT milk production plant from local milk in Cameroon, in Ngaoundere;
• the implementation of projects to support the improvement of production and the development of local milk as part of the implementation of the Integrated Agropastoral and Fisheries Import-Substitution Plan (PIISAH);
• the effective start of the project to develop 15,280 ha of hydro-agricultural perimeters in the Adamawa region, with a view to ensuring the availability of fodder and watering infrastructure for the benefit of POs;
• the construction of a National Animal Seed Production Center in Ngaoundere and 03 relay centers with residence in Jakiri, Lougguéré and Maroua, as part of PLANUT phase 2.

For BIA MAMOUDOU, vice-president of the milk interprofession, the production of local milk in the Adamawa region amounts to 1,000 liters per day and this production must also be redistributed to consumption areas such as Douala and Yaoundé. A data collection application has been set up to determine the number of herds, the amount of milk produced per day and the location of the farms.

This World Milk Day was also marked by the awarding of work medals to about twenty recipients, all MINEPIA staff. Finally, a conference-debate was organized in the conference room of the Regional Delegation of the Center, on the theme of dairy cow feeding in Cameroon: valorization of pastures, agricultural residues and local agro-industrial by-products, moderated by Mr. MOUNCHILI Mama, teacher-researcher at the Department of Biological Sciences Applied to Agriculture, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Ebolowa.

KALTOUMATA DEIDEI – EXECUTIVE AT CELCOM