situation of rice production in Cameroon (Ernest)

Japan-Cameroon cooperation project for the development of irrigated and rainfed rice (PRODERIP)

Only 2 years after the creation in 2011 of this project piloted by the Ministry of Agriculture, 78 tons of rainfed rice seeds have been produced and are available for the 6000 producers already trained in this new way of growing rice in the country.

With a budget of 1.5 billion CFA francs, this project, which benefits from the technical support of the Japanese Development Agency (JICA), has seen its 3-year implementation period extended to 5 years, due to the encouraging results already obtained, according to sources.

The objective of this extension, according to Proderip, is to reach the milestone of 9,000 producers trained in the cultivation of rainfed rice, which has the particularity of growing on dry land and not exclusively in irrigated areas as is the case with traditional seed varieties. In addition, Proderip experts point out, rainfed rice, which currently produces around 48,000 tons

nationally, is less expensive to grow. At the Ministry of Agriculture, for example, it is claimed

that a farmer needs to invest 500,000 CFA francs to cultivate one hectare of this variety of rice,

compared to 4 million CFA francs for irrigated rice.

Implemented in Cameroon's rice production basins, namely the Far North, West and North West

regions, Proderip aims to increase Cameroon's rice production to around 700,000 tons by 2020,

compared to the current 100,000 tons, thanks to the popularization of rainfed rice cultivation.

This local production, to which small-scale producers in the West and North-West regions

contribute very little, is due more to the efforts of the (Société de modernization de la riziculture

de Yagoua (SEMRY), which sells most of its production to Nigeria.

Because of this production deficit, on the one hand, and the export of national production in the

form of paddy to Nigeria, on the other, Cameroon can only meet its national demand for rice

(estimated at about 300,000 tons) through imports, which cost 156 billion CFA francs in 2012,

according to Cameroonian customs statistics. These imports, according to the same source,

come mainly from Thailand (52% of imports), India (26.9%), Vietnam (16.6%) and Pakistan

(2.7%).

Inventory of insect pests and vectors of yellow mottle of rice in the irrigated areas of Maga (Far North of Cameroon)

46 species belonging to 26 families were counted and 7 orders were collected. The insect species encountered can be classified into five

be classified into five categories:

-Borer insects dig galleries in the stems (Lepidoptera, Diptera);

-Chewing insects devour leaves, sometimes panicles and grains (Orthoptera, Coleoptera);

-Sucking insects sting the plant tissues of the various plant organs, leaves, stems, panicles and grains, and feed on the plant's grains, and feed on the sap or milky contents of the grains (Hemiptera);

Saprophagous insects feed on the often-decaying plant debris in the rice field (Orthoptera, Coleoptera);

-Parasitic and predatory insects (Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera) thrive at the expense of other insects that are hosts for their larvae (Orthoptera, Coleoptera)

-Parasitic and predatory insects (Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera) thrive at the expense of other insects that are hosts for their larvae (parasites) or prey for the larvae and adults (predators).

Resource:

(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281618939_The_Inventory_of_Insect_Pests_and_Vectors_of_Rice_Yellow_Mottle_Virus_in_Rice_Ecosystems_in_the_Region_of_the_Far_North_of_Cameron)