ASSOCIATED VOLUNTEER experts

Two AVe experts conduct an audit of around fifteen farms prior to the introduction of AXIOM breeding stock.

According to the framework agreement established between AVe and AXIOM (French leader in pig genetics), it has been agreed that AVe will carry out audits on farms that are to receive high-value genetic breeding pigs prior to their introduction. This is what Bernard and Arnaud did during a week in Cameroon in the Douala region in November 2025. This action prior to the introduction of breeding stock is essential in African countries where ASF (African Swine Fever) is widespread. The AVe expert provides each farmer with a roadmap tailored to their farm to ensure the successful introduction of breeding stock. This roadmap specifies not only biosecurity measures, but also actions to be implemented to improve farm performance.

The outcome of the mission is as follows: a very favorable reception from farmers, with an awareness of the urgent work to be done in terms of health protection before introducing genetically valuable breeding pigs, which represent a significant investment. No farm has sanitary fencing, entry airlocks, loading docks, etc. This equipment must be put in place quickly. 

All expressed the need to continue training and to stay in contact with AVe's pig specialists. 

Bernard and Arnaud (AVe) conducted the audit of Dieudonné Kamto's livestock operation together		Séverin Mangondo and his team of employees following the audit of his farm by Arnaud (AVe)		Visits to livestock farms sometimes require the use of a motorcycle, given their location relative to paved roads. For Bernard (AVe), it was an “all-terrain” mission

Project management assistance for the construction of three new hospital buildings in northeastern Cameroon

 Eric, an AVe specialist in building design, is contributing his expertise to the construction of three buildings at the TOKOMBERE hospital in northeastern Cameroon. Special feature: as the area has been declared unsafe due to Boko Haram, Eric is carrying out this mission remotely. The first building is the medical imaging department with CT and X-ray equipment. The second building is the analysis laboratory. The third...

				The first medical imaging building is complete
Eric (AVe), a specialist in building project management, is monitoring the project remotely as it is impossible for him to visit the site.		Dr. Adoukara, the hospital director, regularly communicates with Eric via video conference to monitor construction projects		Hospital board of directors with the bishop of Maroua		special attention was paid to the strength of the foundations

special attention was paid to the strength of the foundations

Mission program

• Field visit to the territory of the future Kikot dam - accompanied by Robert Bidime, President of GIC NYBON (GIC located on the territory of the future dam).

This territory, comprising a dozen villages, corresponds to the arrondissement of Nyanon (main village), which is the only one to have a town hall.
We followed the road from the future dam site (Kikot), passing from village to village. Along the way, we stopped to greet traditional chiefs and the sub-prefect, had a reception at the Nyanon town hall, met under a tree with the main traditional chief of the area and, at the end of the day, held a discussion with some fifty people from the GIC NYBON.

The conclusion is as follows: the potential for agricultural production in this area to supply the 4,000 employees who will work on the dam can only be significantly increased by agricultural development of the savannah zone.

Louis exchanges views under a tree with the main authorities in the area of the future dam

What agricultural project for a 170 ha coffee plantation not exploited for 20 years?

At the request of a Cameroonian family, heir to a 170 ha coffee plantation that has not been exploited for 20 years, Louis, AVe expert, accompanied by Fabrice, the family's representative, surveyed the plantation for several days to define a new agricultural project based on the existing one.

The field mission on the plantation was completed by meetings with local authorities: the mayor of Kekem, the prefect of Nkongsamba, the prefect of Bafang and with economic actors likely to be the future clients of the plantation: in Bafoussam, the director of SPC (Société des provenderies du Cameroun) and the director of ASL (Agro Sourcing Logistic) The mission ended in Yaoundé with a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Public Works for work in progress on a bridge located on the property and the Ministry of Agriculture to learn about the steps to be taken to obtain financing for the new agricultural project.

This intense mission, thanks to the field diagnosis and to the numerous exchanges with Fabrice and the different interlocutors met, allowed us to choose the orientations of the new project for the plantation : Coffee will be replaced by cocoa and banana-plantain mainly and by some vegetables. A method of cultivation based on agroforestry and agroecology was proposed.

At the end of the mission, the expert writes a file presenting the diagnosis of the plantation, the new project and its business plan.

	Louis Jestin, AVe expert with Fabrice Tchouaffé, the family representative		during the mission: many exchanges, here with the people working on the plantation		the plantation has a surface of 170 ha and many buildings and drying areas (around 5 000 m²) used for drying and first transformation of coffee; they will be used tomorrow for cocoa

Pork project of two Cameroonians, MM Chengoue and Tchoubet living in France as part of a return to their country.

Preliminary discussions between the two interested parties and the AVe association led to the signing of a partnership agreement to formalize the project with the business plan establishment  in July and a mission to Cameroon in August.

From August 15 to 25, 2019, Angelet Tchoubet, one of the project leaders and Louis Jestin (AVe) led together a “field mission” to Cameroon in order to discover the different links in the country pork sector and to specify the project based on the realities of this sector.

6th AVe mission to a cooperative of pork producers in Central Cameroon

SCOOPS-PIC is a cooperative of pork producers located in the Yaoundé region. Created in 2016, with the support of AVe and the In Vivo Foundation since 2017, the cooperative has finalized its project. This includes two components : on one hand developing and professionalizing member farms and, on the other hand, setting up a value chain at cooperative level by creating upstream and downstream services for farms.

4th Ave expert mission for the SCOOPS-PIC pork producer Cooperative in Cameroon

From March 21 to April 5, 2018 Denis Salaun and Bernard Bernicot, AVe experts, carried out a new mission with the breeders of the SCOOP-PIC in Yaounde.

3rd AVe mission for a pig Cooperative in central Cameroon

Louis Jestin and Jean-François Montin, AVe experts experienced a very positive mission in Yaoundé from November 25 to December 1, 2017. The program had two main points : the validation of the SCOOPS-PIC project, a cooperative of around twenty pork producers and participation in the inauguration of PRODEL (Livestock Development Program) organized by MINEPIA (Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries)

Louis Jestin, AVe, Rene Foche, SCOOPS-PIC president, Rachel Kolbe-Semhoun, IN VIVO Foundation and Jean-François Montin, AVe		Very cordial exchange between the Minister of Livestock and the two AVe experts, in front of the SCOOPS-PIC stand

AVe support to a pork producers cooperative in the Center Cameroon region

SCOOPS-PIC (Société Coopérative Simplifiée des Productions Porcines Industrielles du Centre Cameroun) is one of the first pork producer cooperatives in the Central region of Cameroon to be set up.It was created in 2016 (recognition by the Cameroonian authorities obtained in October 2016). It iincludes around twenty members. The establishment of this cooperative corresponds to the emergence of a pork sector in the country. Once the formalities for the creation of the SCOOPS-PIC have been completed, the managers of the cooperative sought French partners to help them to develop their strategic project. Discussions with our association AVe and the In Vivo Foundation led to the signing of a tripartite partnership agreement in April 2017.

  Support in Yaoundé suburb for a Cameroonian GIC - “Common Initiative Group” - and emergence of a pig industry

Since the beginning of 2014 AVe support the developpement of a pig farming, real challenge as not only the breeding scale has to be increased, (from 30 to 100 breeder/fattener sows) but also breeding management must be improved. All this is taking place in the very specific sub-Saharan Afica context.