A/HRC/22/50/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on the right to food undertook an official visit to Cameroon between 16 and 23 July 2012, at the invitation of the Government. During his mission, he met with several members of the Government, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Justice, the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, the Minister of Social Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Health, the Minister for the Advancement of Women and Promotion of the Family, the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife, and the Minister for Livestock, Fishing and Animal Husbandry. He also had high-level meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he met with the Minister of State, and at the Ministry of Property and Land Affairs, the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, where he met with the Minister of State for Rural Development. He had discussions with several members of the National Assembly, including the Speaker of the Assembly and the President of the Constitutional Law Commission. He held a working meeting with representatives of the Institute for Agricultural Research for Development and he also met with the President and members of the National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms. 2. In order to obtain additional information, the Special Rapporteur conducted several field visits. He visited the main prisons and the central prison in Yaoundé. He travelled to Maroua and Kousseri in the Far North region and to several neighbouring towns, as well as the South region, where he visited Kribi and some neighbouring plantations. He held four round-table discussions with civil society organizations in the capital and in Maroua, during the course of which he met with representatives of close to 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Lastly, he had a number of exchanges with representatives of United Nations organizations in the country. 3. The Special Rapporteur is grateful to all those who facilitated his mission. The cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was very efficient and the collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa was excellent. The Special Rapporteur is grateful to the director of operations of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Cameroon and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cameroon. II. Food insecurity A. The general situation 4. Notwithstanding the fact that it has adopted a series of poverty reduction measures, Cameroon has made little progress in eradicating poverty and hunger over the past 10 years, and it will not be in a position to meet the targets set in the Millennium Development Goal relating to this subject area. The proportion of the population living below the poverty line has remained virtually stable (approximately 40 per cent) since 2001 and the prevalence of food insecurity has decreased only slightly.1 5. Within this overall picture, there are significant disparities. People living in rural areas are more vulnerable to food insecurity than those living in urban centres: 9.6 per cent of rural households, as compared to 6.7 per cent of urban households, do not have access to 1 GE.12-18864 Republic of Cameroon (2009), Document de stratégie pour la croissance et l’emploi 2010/2020 (Growth and Employment Strategy Document, 2010–2020), p. 15. 3