The North West Region continues to grapple with insecurity, food shortages, fragile infrastructure and shrinking public investment. It was against this backdrop that the North West Development Authority, MIDENO held its annual press conference in Bamenda to review the 2025 performance of its Director General, Cletus Anye Matoyah, and the institution as a whole.
Addressing journalists, technical partners and staff, the Director General framed the meeting as both an accountability exercise and a direct conversation with the population of the region through the media.
“This press conference gives me the opportunity to talk to the people of the North West Region through your voices, so that they can make informed choices on development options,” he said.
MIDENO’s operations in 2025 unfolded within a context marked by persistent socio political instability, disrupted livelihoods and rising food insecurity. Agricultural production has been weakened by displacement, climate shocks and market disruptions, while infrastructure deficits continue to isolate rural communities.
Financial constraints also weighed heavily on the Authority. According to the Director of Administration and Finance, Ernest Bawe Ndi, MIDENO operated with a traditional budget of about 2.2 billion francs CFA in 2025, achieving a 78 percent execution rate, largely due to delayed disbursements and sharp price increases in planned investments.
“Agriculture is time sensitive, but funds often arrive when the season is almost over,” he noted.
Despite these constraints, MIDENO reported a year of intensive intervention, anchored on agriculture, infrastructure, institutional strengthening and environmental management.
At the centre of its response to food insecurity was the Emergency Project to Combat Food Crises in Cameroon, known as PULCCA, for which MIDENO is the implementing partner in the North West. The Director of the Technical Department, Ndeh Emmanuel, described the project as a flagship government response to crisis driven hunger.
In 2025 alone, MIDENO reached more than 19,000 farmers across all 34 subdivisions of the region through a mix of direct farm inputs and restructured capacity building activities. Vulnerable farmers received improved seeds, cassava cuttings, plantain suckers, rice and maize seeds, organic fertilisers, handcarts and knapsack sprayers. The Authority also corrected initial geographic exclusions by reallocating savings to support farmers in crisis hit subdivisions that had been left out.
“We moved from isolated trainings to embedded support,” Ndeh explained, adding that restructuring allowed the project to exceed its initial targets by over 139 percent.
MIDENO also invested about 50 million francs CFA in revitalising the coffee sub sector, promoting Kola Coffee produced by the North West Cooperative Association, NWCA Ltd. Farm managers, hotel owners and council authorities were trained and equipped, while coffee farmers received organic fertilisers and rehabilitation support for storage facilities.
On infrastructure, the Authority completed and advanced several road and bridge projects linking rural and urban communities, under both the Presidential Plan for Reconstruction and Development, PPRD and a specific agreement with the Ministry of Public Works. While some projects progressed slowly due to technical reviews and payment delays, MIDENO projected completion of key works by the first quarter of 2026.
Environmental concerns were addressed through a waste management partnership with the Nkambe Council, including the demarcation of a dumpsite and the acquisition of tricycles for waste collection, with plans to move into recycling and organic fertiliser production.
Internally, MIDENO focused on governance and sustainability. The rehabilitation of its headquarters, installation of a full solar energy system and the launch of a ten year agriculture and road development master plan were presented as measures to strengthen long term planning and efficiency.
Based on agronomic projections, MIDENO estimates that its 2025 agricultural interventions could lead to yield increases of 30 to 50 percent for maize, over 40 percent for cassava, more than 50 percent for Irish potatoes and up to 60 percent for vegetables. Over two farming seasons, this could generate an additional 150,000 tonnes of food, easing market supply, lowering prices and improving household nutrition.
Beyond food, MIDENO framed agriculture as a peace building tool.
“Food does not discriminate,” Ndeh Emmanuel, MIDENO Techical Director said, arguing that farming has provided a neutral livelihood platform that cuts across political and social divides, reduces youth idleness and supports social stability in a fragile region.
Financially, the Authority reported major progress in debt reduction, clearing social security and tax arrears and cutting personnel related debts by more than half, particularly terminal benefits for retired staff. This, management argued, has improved staff morale and institutional performance.
As the Director General concluded, “Together we are paving the way to a brighter, more sustainable future for the North West Region.”
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Online
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