Telefood Campaign Starts Wednesday

The campaign centres around the observance of World Food Day, marking the founding of the FAO on October 16, 1945.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will launch a fundraising event next Wednesday (November 27, 2013) at the Sawa Hotel in Bonanjo Douala. TeleFood is FAO's annual campaign of broadcasts, gala night and other events aimed at raising awareness about world hunger and mobilising resources for hunger-fighting projects.

Since its inception in 1997, the TeleFood initiative has enriched the lives of many people in Cameroon. "Already, 108 small farms and micro projects for the production of pork, chicken, fish and vegetables, among others, have been financed," Minister Essimi Menye disclosed during a news briefing in Bonanjo Saturday. Some FCFA 87 million was raised last year during the 2012 campaign in Douala. The choice of the economic capital to host the event again, he pointed out, is based on its large size of companies and the city's contribution of 87 per cent to the annual State budget.

The initiative is a part of the Telefood campaign dedicated to helping the poor to help themselves. By financing grassroots-level micro projects the TeleFood Special Fund helps families and small-scale farmers communities produce more food and generate cash income, for better access to food. Donations received for TeleFood go directly to FAO and completely handed to poor farmers to help them achieve the capacity to produce more and better food for their families. It provides them tools to grow crops, raise livestock and fish, process food to sell it at a better price. The money goes to seeds and fertilizers, to irrigation pumps, silos or fish smoking ovens.