Poultry, fish farmers trained at UB
By Ajongakou Santos in Buea
Fish farmers at UB fish pond |
A three-day training workshop for fish and
Poultry farmers has ended at the University of Buea. Sponsored by the World Bank
through the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and
Development, the workshop was aimed at eradicating poverty and increasing
production of fish, pork and poultry in the Southwest and Northwest regions.
The
workshop that ran from 16 to 18 March 2016, started with a visit to the Fish
farms of students of the faculty of agriculture at UB. The farmers from the
Southwest came mainly from Fako and Meme Divisions. The Vice Chancellor of the
University of Buea, Dr. NalovaLyonga explained that another workshop would be
organized for residents of other Divisions of the SW.
The
training was mainly in the area of integrating poultry farming with other
components of fish farming and also in fish and pig production.
The
National coordinator of the programme in Cameroon, Dr. Pius Mbah explained that
the target is to bring about an increase in integrated fish farming techniques
alongside poultry production as well as piggery with the aim to reduce poverty
through self and gainful employment.
He
noted that the aspect of education has been a main hindrance because the
process of fish production is sophisticated and entails a lot of work and
research, reason why people engage in the process but still realize very
little. He noted that fish have a lot of predators and because some fish eat
their kind makes it difficult for the farmers to have better output.
On how to best preserve the fish, it
emerged that environment-friendly smoking kilns have been donated by
CORAF/WECARD and will be made available to the different centres in the
community.
Dr.
Pius pointed out that the kilns could be used at home and even in bedrooms
without the adverse effects on the body and environment, unlike is the case for
the commonly used locally made kilns. When the fish has been smoked with the
modern kilns, it can last for as long as four months before the need to
re-preserve them arises.
The
World Bank funded project, will take place in Cameroon, Sierra Leone and
Nigeria with the main centres being the University of Buea for Cameroon,
University of Ibadan for Nigeria and Njala University of Sierra Leone.
The
scheme is aimed at promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship, as well as
positively impacting food security by increasing and improving the nutritional
level of foods.
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