02-10-2023 | di COOPI

Central African Republic. Activities of agricultural and livestock cooperatives continue

The activities of the associations formed or developed during the project "Support for the professionalization of the agro-pastoral and handicraft sectors in Bangui and neighboring localities" (PAPEUR), active in the Central African Republic from January 2021 to November 2023 thanks to European Union funds, continued during 2023.

It involved, in particular, pig production by the National Pork Breeders Association (ANEP), chicks by the National Association of Central African Poultry Farmers' Groups (ANGAC), feed by the National Federation of Central African Breeders (FNEC), fry by the Cooperative Society of Fish Farmers and Aquaculturists, fishing by the Fishermen's Cooperative Society, and fish sales by the Cooperative Society of Fish Processors (PIC).

The project aims to contribute to the Country's economic recovery by revitalizing those productive sectors in and around Bangui's urban and rural areas, with particular reference to youth employment and partnerships between cooperatives and the private sector.

During the project, the cooperatives acquired technical and organizational skills to actively support their members and put in place effective and efficient operations. For example, in response to a request made in August 2023 by members of the Bangui and surroundings’ Cooperative Society of Fish Processors and members of the Cooperative Society of Fish Farmers and Aquaculturists, a four-day training was held in September at the Ngoulekpa horticulturists’ headquarters. Aimed at 10 participants, the training was intended to improve their skills in setting up and managing a cooperative, to provide them with the basics of agricultural entrepreneurship and principles of financial education.

Also in September, sixty kits were distributed to twenty fish farmers, twenty pig farmers, and twenty poultry farmers in five different distribution centers. The kits included useful materials to continue their entrepreneurial activities, such as feed, work tools, containers, fishing nets, and machetes.

Another way in which the project has supported the associations is by monitoring and advising on the sale of fish at the Ndres fish farm and on the first production of chicks at the ANGAC hatchery on the FNEC site.

Members of the fish and aquaculture farmers’ cooperative society inaugurated the emptying of the ponds in the presence of the director of fisheries of the Ministry of Water and Forests, COOPI staff, and representatives of the Chamber of Agriculture and Tourism. They then proceeded to catch the fish, for a total catch of 950 kg and earnings of 1,770 CFA francs (n.d.: common currency of French West Africa).

As this was the first sale, there were no initial indicators, but this important event will provide the cooperative with a benchmark for organizing similar activities in the future, thus ensuring the sustainability of the project even after it has come to an end.

As far as chick production activity is concerned, after receiving over a thousand hatching eggs correctly placed in incubators, members of the poultry cooperative followed the fertilization process. With a production rate of 80%, the chicks were released at the headquarters of the Fédération Nationale des Eleveurs de Volailles d'Afrique Centrale.

The Papeur project is part of the effort of COOPI, which has been present in the Country since 1974, to promote food security for the population. The distribution of improved food and seeds as well as the training of farmers and livestock marketers in modern agricultural production techniques are all activities that COOPI carries out to boost rural community development.