Agriculture: Ultimate Way Out of Poverty

Malaria is the first cause of death in Cameroon and many other African countries. Reason why Combating Malaria is such a priority to governments in Africa and the rest of the international community. The international community’s concern for the fight against malaria was more explicitly made manifest at the UN millennium General Assembly during which world leaders included the fight against malaria and other diseases in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

So many initiatives have been carried out by Cameroon’s government with the support of international donors like the world fund for the fight against Malaria in the past decade. The K.O Malaria campaign launched on the 20^th of August 2011 by Cameroon’s Prime Minister and head of government in the presence of a host of national and international dignitaries and celebrities is one of such initiatives. This campaign aims to distribute 8.5 million treated mosquito nets to Cameroon’s more than 20 million inhabitants and raise the user-rate of treated mosquito nets from 15 to 80%.

The current 15% treated mosquito net user-rate compared to efforts by the government and its partners kick malaria out of Cameroon is very disappointing and makes the effectiveness and efficiency of mosquito nets distribution campaigns questionable. The already low treated mosquito net user-rate could be even lower if the effective use of these nets is measured instead. This is because in Cameroon, the need to survive has caused a good proportion of people who have received mosquito nets to use them more for other things than protecting themselves of mosquito bites. This is the case with people living in marshy areas who, pushed to the wall by poverty and the necessity to survive, have turned their treated mosquito bed nets into fishing nets. Part of the catch serves as food and the rest is sold to provide for other basic necessities of these people.

The impact of this important and laudable initiative is thus not felt with the desired the intensity and the fight against malaria is slowed down by practices like the above. But is it wrong for a person who does not have food and lack the means of paying his/her health bills to use a treated mosquito bed net to catch fish which can partly provide for his needs? How do we fight against extreme poverty, reduce hunger, eradicate illiteracy, reduce infant mortality, improve maternal health care, achieve gender equality, fight against diseases, ensure environmental sustainability in an integrated and coordinated way? This question raises the problem of the poverty alleviation strategies and other development policies.

The fight against extreme poverty and hunger, the eradication illiteracy, reducing infant mortality, improving maternal health care, achieving gender equality, fighting against diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and establishing a partnership for development  constitute what is commonly referred to as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  which are contained in the UN’s Millennium Declaration of September 2000. This document has since its adoption by the Un General Assembly become the framework and reference document of many developing countries like Cameroon. Cameroon’s Vision 2035 and Nigeria’s Vision 202020 just to name these are examples of visions which are a contextualisation of the MDGs to local and national realities.

The 8 MDGs are intimately related and there is no doubt that the achievement of one depends on the achievement of the other. The inter relatedness of MDGs though an advantage, makes it difficult for policy makers to map out clear and sustainable strategies to effectively tackle the challenges our world faces. The interdependent nature of MDGs makes imperative the use of an integrated approach to fight extreme poverty, reduce hunger, eradicate illiteracy, reduce infant mortality, improve maternal health care, achieve gender equality, fight against diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and achieve a partnership for development at community, national, and international level. But how can this be done?

The answer to this question is attempted in next article.