ENABLE Youth Cameroon agripreneurs win awards during IITA’s strong showing at SIALY 2021
August 9, 2021
Agriculture is an economic powerhouse in Cameroon, engaging more than 50% of the nation’s economically active population. IITA has been working in the country for several decades, promoting best practices and introducing technologies to improve productivity in the sector and increase the income of smallholder farmers, in particular.
The IITA exhibition attracted about a thousand visitors during SIALY 2021.
From 5 to 11 July, IITA participated in the 7th edition of the Yaoundé International Agribusiness Exhibition (SIALY 2021) held at the National Museum. The Institute showcased IITA’s innovations in the development of agriculture, particularly in the seed system, IPM, and soil fertility management.
IITA-Cameroon staff responded to questions and inquiries from the visitors at the Institute’s stand for seven days. One of the highlights of IITA’s exhibition was the workshop organized as a side event. This emphasized IITA’s mission and its main achievements in the development of agriculture in Cameroon. The exhibition also gave some aspiring Agripreneurs of ENABLE Youth Cameroon an opportunity to display their products and talk about their enterprises.
(L-R) IITA-Cameroon Country Representative Dr Cargele Masso, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Mr Gabriel Mbairobe, and the Chief Inspector at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
IITA’s participation was a resounding success, with about a thousand people visiting the stand during the seven exhibition days. Visitors to the IITA display included the Cameroonian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Mr Gabriel Mbairobe, the representative of GIZ Director Christine Schuster, and the representative of the Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroon Richard Bale.
MAC Food Sarl won 1st Prize for its sorrel wine brand, Le Bon Augustin.
The Institute experienced even more positives as the aspiring Agripreneurs won four out of the seven Prizes of Excellence awarded by Cameroon’s Enterprises Upgrade Office (BMN: Bureau de Mise à Niveau des Entreprises au Cameroun) at the end of the fair. The winning agripreneurs were MAC Food Sarl for its sorrel wine brand, Le Bon Augustin; Isiflour Group for their corn porridge; Walakwe Food Sarl for the bitter cola syrup brand, WEP Syrup; and NANKOUA with its brand, Poulet pour tous. They won the first, third, fourth, and fifth place prizes, respectively.
Olamide Deborah Nwanze is a Senior Research Associate specializing in gender mainstreaming research to inform participatory and inclusive breeding, variety development, and seed systems policies regarding root, tuber, and banana (RTB) crops in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Headquarters, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Ibadan and holds an MSc and B. Agric in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. Olamide is a fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – Gender Responsive Agricultural Systems Policy (AWARD-GRASP) and the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT). She seeks to apply her gender-mainstreaming learnings, gender-responsive research, and policy development, and review expertise to facilitate women, youth, children, and vulnerable social group’s access to and adoption of agricultural Innovations that guarantee food, nutrition, income, and livelihood security in Africa. Her current roles include mentoring research fellows, development of guides and training manuals, implementation and adaptation of gender frameworks and tools, value chain actors’ engagement as citizen science partners, policy review and redesign, data management, and analysis. Her current research explores mixed methods and participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to capture and highlight gender dynamics, needs, preferences, and challenges stakeholders face within the agricultural livelihood value chain to prioritize gender-inclusive strategies in breeding programs, policy design, and implementation.
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