Chinese Government provides RMB 40 million grant for Nanga-Eboko Agricultural Application and Technologies Centre (CATAC) (Linked to Record ID#31719)

Project narrative

In 2007, the Chinese Government signed an agreement with the Government Cameroon for the provision of a RMB 40 million grant for the Nanga-Eboko Agricultural Application and Technologies Centre (CATAC). Then, on March 24, 2010, China Development Bank (CDB), Cameroon's Ministry of Agriculture, and Shaanxi Agricultural Reclamation Group Co., Ltd. (also known as Shaanxi State Farms Group) signed a tripartite framework agreement for supporting an agricultural investment project in Cameroon. CDB was to provide a $2 million loan to Shaanxi State Farms Group to support its endeavors in the Exemplary Modern Rice Farm Project for the Government of Cameron, which is likely an alternative name for the Nanga-Eboko Agricultural Application and Technologies Centre. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. According to multiple reports, the loan was disbursed (as captured via Record ID#31719). Construction began on July 2, 2009, and the project was completed July 17, 2013. It was handed over in a ceremony chaired by the Cameroonian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Essimi Menye, in the presence of the Chargé d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Yaoundé, Li Changlin. The initial agreement was signed in 2007 during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Cameroon and the Cameroon Agricultural Technology Application Center (CATAC) was created in January 2011 after two years of construction. CATAC is located in the Nanga Eboko region of Central Kamen Province. According to the Chargé d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy Li Changlin, it is a pilot project for bilateral cooperation between China and Cameroon in the agricultural sector. It is one of 10 such centers set up by Chinese cooperation in Africa, as part of a package of eight measures announced by Hu Jintao, then President of the People's Republic of China, on the occasion of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on Sino-African Cooperation in November 2006. The center includes extensive infrastructure covering 100 hectares with administrative houses and educational buildings. It is made up of mostly developed land used to experiment irrigated rice cultivation. The transfer of advanced agricultural technologies will help Cameroon improve food security, develop agricultural production and reduce poverty. This center has the major functions of experimental research, technical training, and sustainable agricultural development. The demonstration center is operated and managed by Shaanxi Agricultural Reclamation Group Co., Ltd. The operation management period is 10 years. Three years after the completion of the demonstration center, the Chinese Government will provide the center with free assistance every year. The cost for the fourth to tenth years of operation will be solved through the center's own sustainable development approach (MOFCOM).