IFAD Photo by G. Maurette. Cameroon - Second Western Province Rural Development Project. Women selling onions at the local market.

Cameroon: Commodity Value Chain Support Project

Project area. The project will have national coverage, focusing interventions in four regions (the Extreme North, North, West and Northwest). These regions account for over 95 per cent of the country's rice and onion cultivation.

Target group. The project will support 1,190 farmers' groups (with a 30 per cent representation by women and young people) across the four regions. Approximately 24,000 farmers (or 134,000 household) are expected to benefit directly from the project. This number is expected to increase as common interest groups grow. Other stakeholders in the targeted value chains will also benefit.

Project objectives. The main objective of the project is to help reduce poverty in rural areas and improve food security by enhancing the sustainable development and competitiveness of the rice and onion value chains. It will specifically seek to increase rice and onion production and improve the conservation, processing and marketing of these agricultural products.

Project description. In addition to project coordination and knowledge management, the project will have two components:

• Support to agricultural production: Activities to be supported under this component include: (i) strengthening the organizational capacity of rural farmers' organizations (e.g. common initiative groups, farmers' unions and federations) by building their self-development capacity, close support activities and training/exchange visits; (ii) increasing production and productivity of the targeted value chains (rice and onion) through the training of trainers within the common initiative groups, and the establishment of farmers' field schools to address value chain constraints; (iii) improving seed quality and access to inputs and small agricultural equipment through the provision of grants; (iv) constructing irrigation/water infrastructure in the lowlands in order to improve water management and access to water for the targeted value chains.

• Support to marketing and structuring of commodity chains. The objective of the component is to foster demand for the targeted products, improve post-harvest value addition in the targeted commodity chains and increase smallholder farmers' bargaining power with traders. To this end, the project will: (i) improve storage and processing of products through: the rehabilitation and/or construction of storage facilities, technical and management training, and easier access to inputs and small equipment (through a warehouse receipt system and matching grants), and research and innovation activities; (ii) increase market access by strengthening the value chain monitoring system (for rice and onion) and the market information system put in place by the Roots and Tubers Market-Driven Development Programme, establishing norms and standards, and enhancing the marketing techniques of the targeted commodity chains; and (iii) establish a national value chain platform through interprofessional consultations among producers and other stakeholders and exchange visits to ­better performing value chains and interventions.

	IFAD Photo by G. Maurette. Cameroon - Second Western Province Rural Development Project. Farmers prepare the land for crops.

Important features. The proposed project will focus on value chains that show significant market potential. It is framed within the Government's response to food price increases, the poverty reduction strategy paper and the accompanying rural sector development strategy. The project is also consistent with the objectives of IFAD's country strategic opportunities programme: (i) to strengthen the organizational capacity and bargaining power of the rural poor and their organizations; and (ii) to enhance sustainable on- and off-farm income-generating opportunities among the rural poor, particularly women and youth. The project encompasses several innovative aspects including the development of training capacity within farmers' groups, the setting up of consultation platforms to support dialogue between the value chain stakeholders (farmers and other operators) and the Government, a knowledge management strategy based on farmers' groups and other IFAD-funded projects, and the establishment of innovative financial mechanisms (a warehouse receipt system and leasing) to improve access to inputs and equipment.

---

Potential cofinanciers. None.