Yaounde Initiative Foundation» obsolete pesticides

CleanFarms Cameroon project completed successfully

Pierre Baleguel — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 11:54:42 +0000

With a final presentation to the Minister of Agriculture, the CropLife International-funded CleanFarms project in Cameroon has been completed with around 50 tonnes of obsolete pesticide from many sites repackaged in UN approved drums and bags and transported to a secure centralized store – see photograph of part of the stock. This was achieved without spillage or harm to any personnel involved, due in part to the expert supervision of the operations by the firm Veolia Environmental Services (UK) and the skill and dedication of the field teams from YIF and the Agricultural and Environmental Ministries. FAO also helped with some co-finance and logistics assistance from the country office, and are currently finalizing a Global Environment Fund project that will export the stocks for safe high temperature incineration.

CleanFarms Cameroon cleans up pesticide stores at Edea

Pierre Baleguel — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:20:06 +0000

The CleanFarms Cameroon project, funded by CropLife International, has been involved in late November/early December in theory and hands-on training in the skills of repackaging hazardous obsolete pesticides to safeguard them. The team included technicians from SECA – a national waste management company, and monitors from YIF, MINADER, MINEP and CropLife Cameroon. During the training, two pesticide stores at Edea were cleaned up, resulting in several tonnes of safely repackaged obsolete pesticide and associated waste. FAO have applied for funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to dispose safely of these obsolete stocks and others that will be safeguarded in 2012.

Nigerian and Cameroonian study tour to CleanFarms Ghana

Hans Dobson — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:48:57 +0000

Staff involved in CleanFarms Cameroon and CleanFarms Nigeria visited Ghana for a study tour from 12 – 16 September 2011. They benefited greatly from observing first hand the safeguarding obsolete pesticides in Ghana. The Ghanaian team are now very experienced and demonstrated how to zone the working area, to use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment and to repackage the obsolete products safely for storage and eventual transportation for disposal by high temperature incineration. They also saw pilot collection schemes for empty pesticide containers near Kumasi and took the opportunity to visit a wonderful waterfall en route from Kumasi to Tamale – see picture.

Agricultural Show at Ebolowa

Terry Wiles — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 11:03:51 +0000

Staff from the Yaounde Initiative Foundation and MINADER ran the CleanFarms Cameroon stand at the Agricultural Show at Ebolowa during the week of 17 January 2011. This was a large and vibrant event with participation from public, private and NGO sectors, and the CleanFarms stand generated a lot of interest with some hundreds of copies of the project information materials distributed. As such, it made a huge and very cost effective contribution to the current outreach campaign encouraging holders of obsolete stocks to declare them to the project for later safeguarding and disposal free of charge.

Capacity assessment of YIF

Pierre Baleguel — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 10:47:18 +0000

Manon Dohmen from the Knowledge and Skills Company based in Ghana, visited YIF in November 2010 to make an assessment of its capacity to continue to carry out work for CropLife International. She assessed managerial, technical and administrative capabilities and produced a very positive report highlighting the extensive experience, strong motivation and loyalty of Cameroonian staff, as well as the good managerial and technical support from its international staff. Her conclusion was that YIF is suitable and capable of implementing the CleanFarms project, but pointed out that the opportunity should be taken for YIF and CropLife Cameroon to work together to strengthen national capacity in both organisations for future implementation of initiatives such as empty container management programmes.

CleanFarms Cameroon team study tour to Ghana

Didier Baleguel — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 10:18:06 +0000

The CleanFarms Ghana project kindly hosted two members of the CleanFarms Cameroon team on a study tour recently. Didier Baleguel (YIF) and Valentine Fombin (MINADER) spent one week in Ghana learning and sharing experiences on outreach methods, data analysis, and planning for collection and safeguarding of obsolete pesticides and empty containers. The hospitality and helpfulness were sincerely appreciated and the Cameroon project would welcome the chance to host their Ghana colleagues if this were possible in the future.

CleanFarms Cameroon website is LIVE

Didier Baleguel — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:47:45 +0000

The CleanFarms Cameroon website is now live, which means that the public can read about the CleanFarms Cameroon project, download booking forms and other information, and can even enter their obsolete pesticides data online. Go to www.cleanfarms.net and click on the large Cameroonian flag. There is also an option to choose English or French for most of the website – see the tiny French and English flags top right. The project team can be contacted through email on info@yaoundefoundation.org.

CleanFarms Cameroon outreach rolls out

Hans Dobson — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:08:58 +0000

The outreach campaign for CleanFarms Cameroon – the CropLife funded project to identify, safeguard and eventually rid Cameroon of obsolete pesticides – is going well. Temporary project staff have been trained in all sub-Divisions and printed information materials are being distributed nationwide advising obsolete stocks holders how they can register with the project and surrender their stocks without cost or liability. The Yaounde Initiative Foundation is the implementing agency for this project, but is working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, FAO and the Natural Resources Institute in UK.