“UN SENTIMENT DE JOIE”- TCHOUCHUI BESSONG BELGERIE DASSIN, DÉLÉGUÉ DÉPARTEMENTAL MINADER NDÉ (OUEST) :
“C’est un sentiment de joie ! À la phase l du PADFA, on a eu cette impression que certaines localités avaient été oubliées. Beaucoup de celles-ci seront insérées dans l’intervention du PADFA ll. En ce qui me concerne, cet élargissement de l’assiette, pour ainsi dire, va m’amener naturellement à réviser mon cahier de charges sur le terrain.
Notre joie est également de savoir que même les arrondissements forestiers comme Bazou, qui ne sont pas réputés particulièrement rizicoles malgré un potentiel de production avéré, vont désormais être pris en considération. Pour le cas de Bazou justement, 13 producteurs ont déjà mis plus de 10 hectares à la disposition du PADFA ll. Mon espoir est que ce bassin de production se rapproche, en termes de performances, de ceux mieux connus dans le département que sont Bassamba et Tonga “.
“WE EXPECT A LOT FROM PADFA II IN THE NW”- NGOBESSING EMILIA, MINADER REGIONAL CHIEF OF SERVICE
Mrs Ngobessing Emilia is a member of the technical team that worked on selecting the production basins for the North-West.
What has been your method for selecting the production basins in your area ?
The selection process has not been very easy. It started with fieldwork wherein the Regional Delegate of MINADER collaborated with PADFA II staff. The goal of this initial groundwork was to identify the real potential of the different production basins that the Project has to work with: the surface areas cultivated, the number of farmers actually committed to Rice and onion production, and so forth. Then, following what was done during the workshop at Mbouda, it was a matter of knowing these basins in detail by refreshing all the data to make sure that the data that came from the field actually reflects what is there. At the end, the selection was made.
How many basins ?
There used to be about 15 basins in two divisions, but after our process we’ve reached 18, in the three different divisions of the North-West Region.
Finally, as a technician what do you expect at the regional level ?
The expectations are high. From what PADFA l did which was a lot — building infrastructure, developing the different basins in the particular places they were working —, it can be noted that the Project worked in only 2 divisions. What they developed there should of course continue and we expect PADFA II to go further, especially to those villages that were once thought to be inaccessible in all 3 divisions, for we now know about their huge potential. Good examples of this are Nkoketunja and the Fungong subdivision.
