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  • Trump marks 80th birthday with White House UFC spectacle
  • Ex-Israeli PM Ehud Barak says Netanyahu must be removed ‘with sticks and stones’
  • US denies visa to Palestine football chief for World Cup attendance
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Understanding the Biya Francophone regime’s support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza

22, April 2024

Understanding the Biya Francophone regime’s support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza 0

The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé habitually dodges voting at the UNGA either by abstaining to vote or by simply absenting itself when a vote is being taken on some matter. But last week, the Francophone dominated ruling CPDM crime syndicate cast a vote that in effect supported Israel in what many characterize as an Israeli war of genocide against Palestinians. The vote also opposed sovereign statehood for Palestine. It amounted to a constructive support of Israeli apartheid and colonization in the occupied territories of Palestine.

According to unverified sources, Arab and Muslim countries in the world and other friends of Palestinians have taken note of the Biya French Cameroun provocative vote.  La Republique du Cameroun has for the past eight years been openly committing genocidal in the former British Southern Cameroons, the Anglophone country of Ambazonia. French Cameroun is also opposed to sovereign statehood for Ambazonia-a territory that some decades ago, French Cameroun seized through fraud, violence, and terror and brought under its colonial occupation and subjugation. The pro-Israeli voter therefore comes as no surprise to the Biya Francophone Beti Bulu regime watchers. Birds of the same feather, it is said, flock together.

There are many reasons why the Yaoundé vote came as no surprise to many observers. Israel is the main supplier of the Biya regime means and methods of violence. Like the Netanyahu regime in Israel, Biya and his Francophone regime continues to colonize, occupy, and subjugate the people of Ambazonia, subjecting the people to extreme repression and servitude. Many French Cameroun crooks, corrupt political cronies, and thieving regime bigwigs have stashed away their looted money in Israel, and some have even hidden their families in that country.

Israel is a prop of highly authoritarian regimes and life-long rulers in Africa such as Biya. It is a merchant of death and desolation. Its principal export consists of selling the means and methods of death to the old, putrid, and blood-soaked 42-year-old regime of 92-year-old of Biya who has very diminished cognitive ability and can hardly stand or walk for more than a couple of minutes. The creation of French Cameroun’s infamous Brigade d’Intervention Rapid (BIR) and the sadistic methods it commonly uses are the brainchild of Israel and fashioned after those of the Israeli Defense Force. The BIR is notorious for the systematic odious torture of its victims, the assassination of perceived regime opponents, egregious atrocities, and military terrorism in Ambazonia – the systematic murder of civilians, including children and babies.  

Israel gets away with genocide in Gaza. It does so even in the face of a UNSC vote for a ceasefire in Gaza, and an ICJ decision calling on Israel to refrain from committing further widespread and indiscriminate killings in Gaza. By getting away with genocide, Israel indirectly lends moral and armed support to a French Cameroun engaged in perpetrating genocide. This amounts to encouraging the brutal French Cameroun dictatorship not to resolve the Ambazonian Decolonization Question peacefully but rather to demonize British Southern Cameroonians as an ‘inconvenient people’ and expendable people to be exterminated through wholesale industrial slaughter without fear of any repercussions.

Israel is one of the countries to which Western weapons are sold and in which they are battle-tested. Not surprisingly, one of Israel’s biggest exports to La Republique du Cameroun is military expertise. They train Special Forces for the old elderly President Biya. They provide personal security for him and so dictate his allegiance. They also provide militarized training to the French Cameroun police. The brutality of the methods of that militarized police is the daily complaint of the people of that country precisely because the line between the methods and means of the military and the police in that country is very thin.

Israel also sells advanced surveillance technology that the Biya despotic regime uses, hoping to track opponents and keep tabs on them. The highly violent and repressive tribal regime of Biya is comforted by the fact that Israel helps it stay in power indefinitely. That is why that pernicious tribal regime is so warmly in bed with Israel.

Israel has created a situation that endangers all post-WW2 international organizations. It continues to defy them. Israel spits in their faces. Israel rips their letter in public and insults them. Israel insults and ridicules the ICJ. Israel makes a mockery of the UN itself. In relation to America, Israel is the tail that wags the dog. It has pushed America to cheapen the veto power in the UNSC by its whimsical, abusive, and irresponsible veto at every turn in blind support of Israel. As a result, the UN and other international organizations are steadily losing credibility. No one will be surprised if some other countries engaged in international delinquency like Israel does. No one will even be surprised if some states start withdrawing their memberships of some international organizations or start reneging on their international obligations.

Israel defies the UN and gets away with it. There is no reason to expect some other country not to follow suit. For example, authoritarian regimes might behave like Israel by committing pogroms on perceived inconvenient people without being held to account. A case in point is La Republique du Cameroun’s ongoing genocide in Southern Cameroons, like Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Furthermore, the Biya regime in Yaoundé celebrated when Russia launched its war on Ukraine, and unverified reports have it that there are French Cameroun troops fighting on the side of Russia. Further still, Yaoundé excitedly celebrated when Israel launched its war on Gaza, and it is happy with the progress of the Israeli genocide campaign. The Biya regime takes these amoral positions because in the present world context it knows no one cares about its campaign of extermination in Southern Cameroons. Unfortunately for Mr Biya and his acolytes, every dog has its day. In the final analysis the human spirit remains unconquerable, as Napoleon Bonaparte of France and Hitler of Germany learnt after years of conducting massive and widespread human butchery.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

US: Prosecution lays out ‘criminal conspiracy’ as Trump’s hush money trial opens

22, April 2024

US: Prosecution lays out ‘criminal conspiracy’ as Trump’s hush money trial opens 0

Prosecutors accused Donald Trump of engaging in “criminal conspiracy and a coverup” as opening arguments began Monday in the first ever criminal trial of a former US president.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said Trump falsified business records to pay $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to “silence” her about a potentially politically embarrassing sexual encounter.

“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a coverup,” Colangelo told the jury of New Yorkers in a Manhattan courtroom. “He orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.”

Trump, dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, sat at the defense table, staring straight ahead as the prosecutor delivered his opening statement, shifting back and forth in his seat a little.

Before the court session began, Trump condemned the case as “election interference” designed to derail his 2024 White House bid.

“It’s a very, very sad day in America,” the 77-year-old Republican presidential candidate told reporters.

“I’m here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania, in Georgia, and lots of other places campaigning,” he said. “This is a witch hunt and it’s a shame and it comes out of Washington.”

Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges and the case poses substantial risks to him less than seven months before his election rematch with President Joe Biden.

Prosecution witnesses are expected to include Daniels and Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen.

The identities of the jury’s five women and seven men are being kept secret for their own protection.

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to pay “hush money” to Daniels to ensure an account of their alleged 2006 extramarital tryst did not get out ahead of the 2016 election.

The alleged crime is less significant than the indictments stemming from Trump’s attack on the 2020 election – which the Republican lost to Democrat Biden – and his hoarding of secret documents.

Trump could face jail time in the current case, although a fine or probation is more likely, analysts say.

Campaign trail

The trial in a dingy courtroom will keep Trump off the campaign trail for four days a week over a possibly six-to-eight-week period, while Biden hammers him from the White House and around the country.

But Trump has tried to used the heavy media attention to fire up his support base by giving regular statements outside the courtroom.

“This is going to be the beginning of probably the most sensational trial in American history,” former prosecutor Bennett Gershman, now a lecturer at Pace University, told AFP.

“Every day we’re going to be hearing testimony that’s going to be damaging to Mr Trump.”

Trump has railed against the case, particularly what he calls the “very unfair” partial gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan to prevent him from using his media presence to attack witnesses, prosecutors and relatives of court staff.

Security was tight Monday after a man set himself on fire last week outside the courthouse in an unrelated but gruesome incident.

A hearing will be held Tuesday at which Merchan will decide if Trump is already in contempt of court due to outbursts during jury selection.

The Republican’s three other criminal cases have been repeatedly delayed due to his successful strategy of challenging every step.

However, Merchan has run the New York fraud trial on a tight schedule.

Potential jurors were grilled last week by prosecutors and defense attorneys about their media habits, political donations, education and whether they have attended pro- or anti-Trump rallies.

Many potential panelists were excused after saying they could not be impartial, before lawyers and the judge whittled down the group to 12 jurors with six alternates.

A unanimous verdict will be required to convict Trump, who has been ordered to attend each day of the trial.

Source: AFP

FAO formally launches Green Cities Initiative in Cameroon

22, April 2024

FAO formally launches Green Cities Initiative in Cameroon 0

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations today held an official launch here of its Green Cities Initiative, which is already being piloted in Cameroon, with seven municipalities submitting letters of intent to join the initiative.

In remarks at the launch event, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu noted that with two thirds of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050 – urban areas are facing major challenges.

“Municipalities are at the frontline of citizens’ expectations to improve their livelihoods and well-being, from accessing nutritious foods, adequate water, energy, and housing”, Qu said

They must also address “multiple challenges such as the impacts of the climate crisis, environment degradation, waste management and urban inequality, among others,” he added.

Enthusiastic welcome

Georges Elanga Obam, Cameroon’s Minister of Decentralization and local development described the rapid growth of the country’s urban population and the associated challenges and said Cameroon could not but enthusiastically welcome FAO’s Green Cities Initiative.

The Yaoundé City Mayor, Luc Messi Atangana, also expressed his appreciation for the initiative.

In Cameroon, the number of city dwellers has increased by 50 percent between 2010 and 2020, with more than 15 million urban residents now, half of them living in Yaoundé and Douala. Since March 2023, a pilot Green Cities Initiative project has been underway in the capital’s Yaoundé 4 district. Its implementation, focusing on a micro-project for training of waste collectors who visit households and collect waste for composting, the process of composting itself and promotion of urban agriculture, has attracted interest from other municipalities in Yaoundé and elsewhere.

At today’s meeting, seven more municipalities formally handed over letters of intent to Qu to join the initiative. The Director-General expressed FAO’s eagerness to support them with innovative actions on the ground with impact to be upscaled and expanded.

Qu told the municipalities’ mayors he was confident that in partnership with FAO they could make their cities “greener, healthier, and more sustainable through among others expanding urban forestry and agriculture and creation of green jobs for the younger generation.”

Vibrant inclusive cities

FAO’s flagship Green Cities Initiative was launched globally in 2020. It envisions vibrant and inclusive cities where urban green and productive spaces catalyze climate resilience, social cohesion, and economic prosperity. It also aims at bridging the gap between urban and rural areas and between citizens and nature. The FAO GCI supports cities to develop through the availability and access to goods and services provided by urban and peri-urban forestry, agriculture as well as through the circular bioeconomy.

Building on FAO’s expertise on sustainable urban and peri urban agriculture and forestry, and urban food systems, the Green Cities Initiative supports local governments to plan, design and implement innovative green actions bringing together efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, multifunctional green infrastructure, and natural resources management.

The Green Cities Initiative seeks to improve the livelihoods and well-being of urban and peri-urban populations in at least 100 cities (15 metropolitan, 40 intermediate and 45 small cities) around the world and aims to have 1000 cities join by 2030.

Culled from the FAO

Football: Barcelona wants Clasico replay if Yamal ‘ghost goal’ call wrong

22, April 2024

Football: Barcelona wants Clasico replay if Yamal ‘ghost goal’ call wrong 0

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said Monday the club will demand a Clasico replay if they can prove officials made a mistake by not allowing Lamine Yamal’s “ghost goal”.

The champions fell to a 3-2 defeat against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday in a match which featured multiple controversial incidents, leaving their arch-rivals 11 points clear at the top of La Liga.

The most debated was 16-year-old winger Yamal’s first-half flick from a corner which may have crossed the line before Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin pushed it away.

Without goal-line technology in Spain, officials used VAR to try and confirm if the ball had crossed the line but could not be certain it had and so play continued with the score level at 1-1.

Laporta demanded the Spanish football federation and the refereeing committee send Barcelona all footage of the incident and audio recordings of the officials’ conversations.

“If, once the documentation has been analysed, the club understands that there was an error in the assessment of the play, as we think there was, we will take all the necessary steps to reverse the situation, without ruling out any legal action that may be necessary,” said Laporta in a video published by Barcelona.

“If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, as we believe it was, we will go further and ask for a replay of the match, as has happened in another European match due to a VAR error.”

Laporta was referring to a match between Anderlecht and Genk in January in the Belgian top flight which was replayed following a misapplication of the laws of the game.

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said Sunday it was a “disgrace” that Spanish football did not have goal-line technology.

Laporta also criticised a general “misuse” of VAR, saying there appeared to be “contradictory criteria” for its intervention depending on the teams involved.

Barcelona had two penalty appeals turned down during the Clasico defeat for what they said were fouls on Yamal and Fermin Lopez.

Source: AFP

Poverty under Biya: Cameroonians embrace Chinese language for brighter futures

21, April 2024

Poverty under Biya: Cameroonians embrace Chinese language for brighter futures 0

In a bustling classroom at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, students are immersed in learning the Chinese language. Their teacher, known as Sema, originally studied physics but found a passion for Chinese language and culture at the Confucius Institute.

After obtaining a master’s degree in Chinese language in China, Sema returned to Cameroon, where he now teaches Chinese language and culture at the university.

Sema expressed his deep connection to Chinese culture, saying, “When I was in China, I felt like I was a Chinese person because their culture is very similar to African culture.”

He emphasized the opportunities that speaking Chinese has brought him, including a significant increase in income. “When I returned from China, I started with 500,000 francs CFA (about 814 U.S. dollars) as monthly salary working as an interpreter for some Chinese. That is a lot of money for a Cameroonian,” he said.

Completing a Chinese language course opens up a wealth of opportunities. Graduates can pursue careers as interpreters or explore various fields beyond language, and moreover, they have the option to further their studies in China in any discipline, Sema said.

Sema gives a Chinese language class at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, April 18, 2024. (Xinhua/Muleng Timngum)

Rokis Petou, a business manager for the Chinese firm Sinohydro Corporation Limited in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, also highlighted the advantages of learning Chinese.

In 2017, Petou traveled to China for PhD research studies in geophysics and geological engineering. Despite pursuing his research without a language requirement, Petou recognized the value of speaking Chinese in his professional life.

He said his ability to communicate in Chinese has not only provided him with a well-paid job but has also elevated his social standing. “Being able to speak a language that very few people understand in my environment makes one be treated with special attention,” he added.

Similarly, Eric Sama Doh found employment in 2014 working with Chinese engineers on a construction project in Cameroon.

“When some of my Cameroonian colleagues see me, they always say ‘ni hao’ (hello),” said Doh who has been working with China Machinery Engineering Corporation.

“With this job, I am able to feed my family and send my children to school. In fact, I am living a comfortable life thanks to the opportunity that Chinese language has offered me,” he said.

These stories are just a few examples of how learning Chinese has opened doors for Cameroonians in a challenging job market. According to Didier Nama, national pedagogic inspector of Chinese Language in the Ministry of Secondary Education of Cameroon, there are nearly 20,000 Chinese learners in the country, with nearly 200 secondary schools providing Chinese courses.

Nama highlighted the government’s efforts to promote Chinese language learning, with several state universities now offering Chinese courses and hundreds of Cameroonians trained to teach Chinese in schools across the country.

Sema gives a Chinese language class at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, April 18, 2024.(Xinhua/Muleng Timngum)

In 2008, only one state university in the country offered a Chinese language diploma. However, as of now, four other state universities have formally applied to offer Chinese courses, Nama said, adding that nearly 300 Cameroonians, co-trained by the University of Maroua and the Confucius Institute, are currently teaching the Chinese language in schools nationwide.

Sandra Mefou and Viviane Limunga, two students attending Sema’s lecture, expressed their intentions to pursue further studies in Chinese language and linguistics in China after graduation, citing the limitless opportunities that speaking Chinese provides.

“Chinese-owned companies are everywhere in Cameroon and across the African continent. I want to learn the language to work with them,” Mefou said.

“I plan to pursue further studies in Mandarin and linguistics in China after graduation,” Viviane Limunga added.

“These young people represent a growing trend of cultural exchanges and understanding between Cameroon and China,” Sema said. 

US agrees to withdraw troops from key drone base in Niger

20, April 2024

US agrees to withdraw troops from key drone base in Niger 0

The United States agreed Friday to withdraw its more than 1,000 troops from Niger, officials said, upending its posture in West Africa where the country was home to a major drone base.

The long-expected move effectively marks a new regional gain for Russia, which has ramped up its focus on Africa and backed military regimes in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accepted the call to remove troops in a meeting in Washington with the prime minister of the junta, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, US officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

They agreed that a US delegation would head within days to the capital Niamey to arrange an orderly withdrawal, the officials said. Nigerien state television earlier announced that the US officials would visit next week.

The State Department made no immediate public announcement and officials said no timeline was yet set to withdraw the troops.

Niger was long a linchpin in the US and French strategy to combat jihadists in West Africa. The United States built a base in the desert city of Agadez at the cost of $100 million to fly a fleet of drones.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March 2023 became the highest-ranking American ever to visit Niger, vowing economic support for one of the world’s poorest countries and seeking to bolster elected president Mohamed Bazoum, a stalwart Western ally.

But the military four months later sacked Bazoum and quickly kicked out troops from former colonial power France.

Unlike its anger toward France, the junta initially sounded an openness to maintaining its longtime defense relationship with the United States.

President Joe Biden’s administration, however, has refused to mute concerns, insisting on the return of civilian rule and the release of Bazoum.

Russian military instructors arrived in Niger this month with an air defense system and other equipment, state media said, after talks between military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nigerien message becomes clear

The Nigerien military had announced last month in a statement on state television that it was breaking off a defense agreement with the United States with immediate effect.

But diplomats said the Nigerian leadership had sent mixed messages and the United States initially said it was awaiting confirmation.

The United States puts a high priority on troops’ safety, and concerns rose last week when thousands rallied outside the National Assembly headquarters chanting for US troops to leave.

Despite maintaining dialogue with the junta, the United States has for months been preparing for the likelihood it will need to exit Niger.

General James Hecker, the US Air Force commander for both Europe and Africa, said late last year that the United States was in discussions for “several locations” elsewhere in West Africa to station drones.

While not publicly asking to station drones, the United States has pursued close cooperation with coastal democracies including Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Western governments feared that the remote Sahel will offer a new hub for Islamist militants after jihadists overran much of Mali in 2012 as part of a rebellion by ethnic Tuaregs.

With Niger seen as comparatively stable, the United States based its drones in Agadez, building the site known as Air Base 101.

The United States resumed drone operations after the July coup in Niger but one of its main functions soon became surveillance for the sake of protecting the US troops based there.

With support from both parties, the United States in recent years has been retrenching its once sprawling military network set up as part of the “war on terror” following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Representative Matt Gaetz, a hard-right Republican known for his brash statements, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Niger was an “extraordinary Biden foreign policy failure” and urged the safe withdrawal of troops.

Source: AFP

CPDM Crime Syndicate repays CFA39.8bn debt with new borrowings

19, April 2024

CPDM Crime Syndicate repays CFA39.8bn debt with new borrowings 0

On April 17, Cameroon reimbursed CFA39.8 billion on the public securities market of the Central African States Bank (BEAC). Renowned for its solvency since the establishment of this market nearly 13 years ago, Cameroon used its usual borrowing strategy to make this repayment.

To this end, two new issuances of fungible Treasury bills (BTA) were carried out on April 15, two days before the repayment date. These issuances, consisting of securities with maturities of 26 weeks for CFA40 billion and 52 weeks for CFA25 billion, raised CFA49.4 billion from investors. This sum not only covered the due repayment but also generated a cash surplus of CFA10 billion for Cameroon.

The interest rates applied in these operations reflected the increasing tension in the market, which has seen its requirements rise over the months due to a restrictive monetary policy. Cameroon offered an average interest rate of 6.3% on the 26-week BTAs and 6.5% on the 52-week ones. The rates are significantly higher than the 3% ceiling commonly practiced by the Cameroonian Treasury on these securities a few years ago.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Kenya: Helicopter crash kills defense chief and nine senior officers

18, April 2024

Kenya: Helicopter crash kills defense chief and nine senior officers 0

Kenya’s defence chief and nine other senior military officers died in a helicopter crash on Thursday, President William Ruto announced.

“Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing on of General Francis Omondi Ogolla,” Ruto told reporters, adding that nine other officers were also killed while two survived.

He said the Kenya Air Force has dispatched an air investigation team to establish the cause of the crash, which took place in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.

“A distinguished four-star general has fallen in the course of duty and in the service of the country,” Ruto said, announcing three days of mourning from Friday.

Source: AFP

Cocoa Farmer Household Income New Methodology: Any hope for African farmers?

18, April 2024

Cocoa Farmer Household Income New Methodology: Any hope for African farmers? 0

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) on April 3, 2024, announced the launch of an important new methodology for measuring cocoa household income and living incomes. Led and funded by WCF and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO), the methodology is expected to go a long way in help experts and actors in the cocoa sector gain a better understanding of the impact of sustainability interventions on cocoa farmer households and the environment.

The methodology was delivered by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) who partnered with the Centre Ivoirien de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (CIRES) and Etudes de Marché et Conseils (EMC) from Côte d’Ivoire.  Until recently, there has not been any authoritative way to measure cocoa farmer household income across the sector, yet accurately measuring cocoa farmer household income is key to understanding the impact of sustainability interventions on cocoa farmer households and the environment.

Existing methods still struggle to account for the costs of cocoa production and to capture non-cocoa income whilst data gathered by individual companies offers a picture based solely on their direct supply chains – leaving cocoa growers, especially in African countries where data does not drive processes and there are no organized systems,  in the indirect supply chain underrepresented. Individual data gathering by companies and other institutions also currently relies on a variety of different methods.

This new methodology solves many of these challenges and offers a standard that can be applied to all future studies, research and data collection to make them more widely comparable and better representative of the sector as a whole. It includes groups that have not been intensively involved in sustainability interventions in the past as well as underrepresented groups such as sharecroppers, women and cocoa farmers on the African continent who are not in the indirect supply chain.

It also includes robust means of collecting data on diversified household income that does not stem from cocoa. The methodology was completed with inputs from numerous stakeholders across the cocoa sector including the Alliance on Living Income in Cocoa (ALICO), Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), representatives from producing country governments, NGOs and civil society organizations and WCF member companies. It is designed to determine the living income status of cocoa farming households and the impact of sustainability interventions on household incomes. These two elements are essential to defining and aligning stakeholders’ efforts around the interventions that are most effective.

“To understand what works in helping raise cocoa farmers’ incomes we first need to be able to consistently measure how activities affect those incomes,” said Michael Matarasso, WCF Director of Monitoring and Evaluation. “This methodology gives everyone in the sector a firm foundation to stand on and will help us to drive collective progress to improve cocoa farmers’ incomes.”

As the second phase of this collaboration, WCF, GIZ and SWISSCO will use this methodology to conduct baseline studies on cocoa farmer household income in three landscapes in Côte d’Ivoire. WCF will implement an income study in the Yapo Abbé Forest, GIZ in Bossématié whilst SWISSCO plans to deliver a cocoa household income study in the Cavally Forest Reserve in having recently completed an income study in Ghana aligned with this new measurement methodology. Similarly, other academic institutions, companies and government agencies can use the methodology in their own research and data collection, reinforcing a common standard for the entire industry.

“This methodology is important as it enables evidence-based policy and intervention design based on the analysis of good quality data for different household groups. We hope that it contributes to greatly reducing or closing the living income gaps of farming households,” said Yuca Waarts, Senior Researcher at Wageningen University & Research.

Lisa Kirfel-Rühle, overseeing cocoa supply chains at BMZ, emphasizes the significance of the methodology, stating: “Through this methodology, we and our partners advocate for standardized high-quality income data of cocoa farmers to strengthen political discourse, whether past interventions have been sufficient to ensure decent incomes for cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire or whether we still have to address imbalances in value chain distributions.”

“Helping cocoa farmers succeed requires everyone in the cocoa sector to work together. Therefore having a common methodology to measure and compare the income of cocoa farmer families is important to accurately understand their economic situation,” said Nicoletta Lumaldo, Manager Innovation and Member Engagement at SWISSCO.

The new methodology measuring cocoa farmer household income is the result of several months of work and deep collaboration among all the organizations involved.

 Culled from WCF By Cecilia M. Manjang

18, April 2024
4th Cameroon Investment Forum opens in Douala

18, April 2024

4th Cameroon Investment Forum opens in Douala 0

The 4th edition of the Cameroon Investment Forum, a flagship biennial event that brings together high-level government officials, development partners, and various business stakeholders from around the world, opened on Wednesday in the commercial hub of Douala.

Organized by the state-run Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), the forum aims to intensify the import substitution dynamic in Cameroon by mobilizing and directing investments into niche sectors such as rice, maize, fish, milk, and palm oil, said CIPA Acting General Manager Donatus Boma.

“It is a platform for high-level consultations and exchange of experiences. It is an excellent opportunity for investors to understand why Cameroon is an investment destination,” Boma said during the opening ceremony, which was attended by African, Chinese, Russian, and European investors.

“The main objective is to encourage local investors and attract foreign direct investment in products aimed at increasing local production and processing. This initiative should help reduce Cameroon’s deficit caused by the importation of staple foods in large quantities,” he added.

The forum, held after years of postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will end on Friday.

Source: Xinhuanet

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