The project to be forwarded to the Prime Minister for signature was validated in Yaounde on 14 July, according to a report in All Africa today.

There are concerted efforts to put an end to the problems that have plagued poultry farming in the country, rendering production far below national demand. Statistics show that the poultry sector succumbed to the numerous crises of the recent years and weekly production slumped from 600,000 chicks to barely 60,000 now.

Against this backdrop, stakeholders in the sector are envisaging the creation of a national council for poultry farming. The council upon creation, initiators say, would serve as a forum through which the government and the private sector would concert and define policies geared towards boosting production that would meet the needs of the ever growing population.

The document, examined last week in a workshop in Yaounde, is the result of concerted action jointly carried out by the Ministries of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA) and that of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT).

Speaking during the workshop last week, Dr Ebode Sylvain Blaise, Director of Development, Production and Animal Industries in MINEPIA said there has been a remarkable drop in national poultry production. This, he added, was as a result of the devaluation of the CFA Franc in 1984 and the bird flu virus in 2006 which brought the sector to its knees. The government, he said, slowed efforts in promoting national production and opted for importation which has not yielded the desired fruit.

The national council, he said, would among others examine and propose solutions to problems faced by the sector, orientate actors on the policies that render the sector economically powerful, coordinate the activities of the sector as well as organise and control production.

He said with the exponential growth in population, Cameroon needs to go beyond the 600,000 weekly production of the yesteryears. "With the growth in population, it is necessary to organise the poultry sector so that we know exactly how many kilograms of chicken we need to produce to be eaten in a specific period", he said.

The proposed document outlines the composition of the council and how it would function. The validated copy, Dr Ebode said, will be forwarded to the Prime Minister for signature and it is only then that effective work would begin, according to All Africa.