By Leocadia Bongben
Women are at the forefront of food and animal production and equally, prepare food to feed their families, necessitating biosecurity measures. Women need to be aware that each production step requires biosecurity measures. Enemies of crops, viruses, microorganisms, and bacteria require measures to be taken so that future production is not compromised but remains sustainable and profitable.
This is why, to mark International Women’s Day, the Cameroon Biosecurity Project organized a meeting to educate women and the general public about biosecurity.
Biosecurity consists of a series of measures to prevent disease, ensure food safety food, and protect plants among others.
Invasive alien species and biosafety are two aspects of biosecurity that endanger the health of people, animals, and the environment. Ebola and COVID-19 are examples of invasive species. Declan Ambe, the technical and administrative officer of the Cameroon Biosecurity Project, says, “Biosafety is a subset of biosecurity restricted to the management and control of living transformed organisms—products of contemporary biotechnology—that result from gene modification.”
Risks to agriculture, health, and the environment can be mitigated by biosecurity, and the public needs information from the government on the necessary actions. The goal—a farm with a fern plant invasion, like the Northwest in Kumbo, in the Northwest—determines the course of action. There are methods such as mechanical removal or the use of herbicides. However, the methods employed within the biosecurity framework should not jeopardize the health of people, animals, or plants, Ambe explained.
What is changing is that the Biosecurity Project is implementing a standardized method that encourages cooperation among the many institutions to create a strong biosecurity framework for Cameroon, as several stakeholders have been conducting operations without calling them biosecurity. Although the word is new, Cameroon has implemented the concept. The biosecurity project is bringing the stakeholders together to look for areas of convergence to address the conflict of competence that arises when working with several stakeholders. The funding issue is resolved now that a coordinating framework is in place.
The first phase, according to Dr. Rigobert Ntep, coordinator of the Cameroon Biosecurity Project, laid the foundation, and among its accomplishments were the creation of manuals that guided national efforts in handling cases like the Avian Influencer, the capacity building of two laboratories at the University of Yaoundé 1 and Buea. Officials at the Biosecurity Project hope the proposed draft law be tabled before Parliament during this March 2025 session. The project established the framework for biosecurity in Cameroon in phase one by creating tools to track the entry and spread of invasive exotic species and modified living organisms throughout Cameroon.
“The project in the second phase is dedicated to implementation, and we hope to adopt and disseminate an updated action plan. Besides, assist the Ministry of Environment in determining whether a product contains a modified living organism by providing the University of Ngaoundere with capacity building,” the coordinator said.