(Business in Cameroon) - The Managing Director of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, and the Executive Secretary of the Planning and Coordination Agency (ACPN) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, signed on 20 October 2016 an agreement to stimulate youth employment in rural areas in Cameroon, Benin, Malawi and Niger.

The projects and other programmes to be set up by these four countries in order to reach the set targets, will be financed through a donation of USD 4 million (approximately FCfa 2.2 billion) granted by the African Fiduciary Solidarity Fund, we learned in an official communiqué. “This joint effort is meant to promote decent employment for the youth in rural areas and entrepreneurship in the agricultural and food industry sectors. This is another important example of cooperation initiative spearheaded by Africa whose objective is to guarantee food safety and living means on the continent”, declared Mr José Graziano da Silva, Managing Director of FAO. Justifying the choice of the agriculture sector for the implementation of this partnership, the Executive Secretary of NEPAD, believes that “the agricultural sector is the only sector in Africa capable of assimilating, at least in part, the 11 million youth who turn up each year on the employment market”.

As a reminder, in Cameroon, 80% of the active population works in the agricultural sector, which is the main activity in rural areas, living conditions in these areas, with the overwhelming majority of young people in the country, are often very difficult due in general to the lack of financial means.

BRM