National Assembly Offers Assistance To Meritorious Farmer

Tata Bakari, a small-scale agricultural farmer based in Foumbot, in the Noun Division of the West Region, who recently received financial support and a double cabined Hilux Toyota car from the speaker of Cameroon’s National Assembly, as incentive for a major role he plays in small scale agriculture production, says there is need to create viable alternatives for young people, in a bid to eradicate poverty.

Tata Bakari, who owns a Common Initiative Group (CIG) known as GIC-JAF, based in Foumbot, was speaking in Bafoussam recently in a press conference aimed at thanking Governmentfor assistingGIC-JAF. He said such partnership will be a unique opportunity to defend agriculture that remains a crucial sector of the country’s economy.

The young entrepreneur, is also running a center where over 80 young Cameroonians are being provided with technical skills, business ideas and techniques in agriculture production.

The 30 year-old says he has grown from grass to grace, after spending close to 12 years in the streets as a vagabond. He has promised to integrate most street children and school dropouts as smallholder farmers, by training them in his center. He told pressmen that he is targeting agricultural research, which he believes will bring a huge impact on small scale production, adding that he was already working with experts from the Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Science in the University of Dschang.

He made a strong case for Cameroonians to embrace agriculture-oriented marketsinsisting that local products need to be transformed into finished goods for a fair trade to be achieved.

He thanked President Paul Biya for his continuous financial and material support to youths; andto the Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development and Youth Affairs for the support they have offered GIC-JAF.