The experience of WorldVeg in Cameroon has sparked interest for an initiative to build seed systems in the Central African Republic.

The success of the collaboration between the World Vegetable Center in Cameroon and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through the PADFA (Commodity Support Value Chain Project) has now crossed international borders: An IFAD representative from the Revival Project of Agropastoral Production in Savannas in the Central African Republic (CAR), has advised the CAR government to seek the expertise of WorldVeg on a new IFAD-funded market gardening project.

To this end, Le Parfait Magoumbala, CAR Director General of Planning, M&E and Agricultural Statistics, and Nana Guy Sylvestre, Director General of Livestock Planning, visited WorldVeg Cameroon in Yaoundé from 17-20 January 2018 to learn about the Center’s operations.

Regine Kamga, Acting Liaison Officer, gave an overview of the Center’s global R&D activities and highlighted specific work in Cameroon. The presentation was followed by a discussion and field visit. The CAR team showed keen interest in WorldVeg and expressed a wish to collaborate with the Center on the upcoming initiative.  “We sometimes go far to look for that which is near us,” said Mr. Magoumbala.

CAR seeks WorldVeg expertise in vegetable seed systems to reinforce the capacity of the CAR National Agricultural System (ICRA) in improving the national vegetable seed system as well as in the development of community-based seed production. They are also interested in promoting vegetables for nutrition, as CAR has been suffering from war and malnutrition for decades. Their hope is to have WorldVeg build the capacity of a local NGO, which will serve as a scaling partner for several beneficiary groups. They have requested a baseline study for a training needs assessment.

Story and photos: Regine Kamga