ASSOCIATION FOR DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EDUCATION AND AGRO-PROCESSING INITIATIVE (ADEAPI)

On the 27 day of November 2022, young Cameroonians residing in Cameroon and abroad concerted in view of creating an association that will serve as meeting platform where they share ideas in order to contribute to the development of agro-processing industries in Africa through professional training and industrialization. The members have committed themselves to work in a spirit of sincerity, fraternity, harmony and honesty. The association will be named Association for Development through Education and Agro-Processing Initiative (ADEAPI). The motivation of these young Africans derived from the problem of food safety in Africa and the fact that agriculture remains a key development factor given its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to the local and oversea markets, and to the creations of direct and indirect employments. In Cameroon, the agricultural sector remains a key development factor given its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), local, regional, African and oversea markets, and the high contribution to the creation of direct and indirect employments. Unfortunately, it has been observed a significant decline in the contribution of this economic sector to the economic Added Value (% GDP), dropping from 32.73% in 1995 to 15.28% in 2017, driving through 22.16% in 2014. At the same time, a decline in the Added Value of the primary sector which agriculture is the main contributor has been observed, moving from 21.7% in 2011 to 20.4% in 2017 according to Perspective Monde (2018) and national Institute of Statistics (2016), while it has instead been recorded an increase in this Added Value in the tertiary sector moving from 43.2% in 2011 to 46.3% in 2017, thus implying that the secondary sector of the economy has improved and of course the agro-processing industries, and so far those involved in the productions of inputs and agro-productions tools and machinery. This is a common problem in Africa and this was expressed in the vision of heads of states at continental level during the summits of heads of states and governments of African Union in Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) in June 2014 and at Addid-Abeba (Ethiopa) in January 2015. These declarations testify of the consequential and far-reaching engagements in order to reinforce expertise and human capital as to enhance the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the agricultural sector in view of eradicating famine in Africa by the year 2025 while reducing the importation of processed products. Adding value to the agricultural sector will be a major asset to the creation of employment, and this will equally contribute to the socio-economic development and to food safety. Achievement such objective highly depends on professional training, hence the vision to set a professional agro-processing institute in Cameroon. This vision is urgent given that in Cameroon, most training institutions in the agricultural sector limit themselves to production and very few add value to the sector through conservation and processing.

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