Wilfred Enow Agbor
Yaounde, Cameroon
The saying that many hands make work light once again has came to light as the delegate from the Ministry of Agriculture, Madam Ananga Clementine, appeals to farmers to create as many more Cooperatives as possible. The Ministry of Agriculture in its sensitization campaign after the celebration of the World Cooperative day decided to visit the Soa locality of Yaounde, Cameroon to tell the population the benefits in joining a Cooperative.
Clementine Anaga, Delegate, Ministry of Agriculture
Present at the occasion was the Representative of the Minister of Agriculture, Madam Ananga Clementine, Minister Delegate in charge of Agriculture, the Representative of the Divisional Delegate for Soa Mr. Bob, the Mayor of Soa council Mr. Essama Embolo, and the Soa population.
The World Cooperative day calls for Cameroonians especially farmers to work in cooperative to encourage mechanized farming and increase production. There is
Selomo Dorothy Binla, President of Gariland International
the need to place value to local products made in Cameroon. This day equally calls for farmers to derive better conserve local food in order to avoid food shortages in future.
Madam Clementine did not hesitate to tell the population that there are a lot of advantages if farmers group themselves in Cooperatives. To work in groups, they will benefit from heavy machines which will increase production compared to working as individuals. The farmers will
CPDM women dancing during the visit of a Delegate from The Ministry of Agriculture
equally have sponsors and agriculture will be taken to another level in Cameroon.
Present at the scene was a Cooperative group called Gariland International. Its President, Selomo Dorothy Binla is a holder of a post graduate diploma in law and whose mission has been as follows:
“I wanted to touch the students and the rural population. It was the easiest way to afford raw materials. My raw materials are gotten from Soa women, some are
Mayor of Soa, Yaounde during the visit of a delegation from Cameroon Ministry of Agriculture
bought from the MOKOLO market. Food transformation and preservation are my objectives.” This can only come true if the government can reduce the importation of foreign food and then encourage locally made products.
Children need to take balance diet. Eating beans for example, is not the problem but what matters is how it is cooked — reasons why in dormitory schools they sleep in class. Alaska, a frozen sweet, which children consume, has no nutritive value. That is why Gariland International now transforms local farm products to make drinks like the Gariland fruit drink made from a component of cassava called gari nectar, generator fruit drink made from seaweed plant called stavia,
Dorothy’s dream is to move from small food processing stage to industrial production in order to meet up with the demands of the population. But she says the challenges are enormous, especially in raising capital to purchase equipments. Brasseries du Cameroon, one of the largest brewers in the country, is what it is today because it can meet the demands of the population.
OHADA UNIFORM ACT GUIDING COOPERATIVES.
The Minister of Agriculture Lazar Essimi Menye, put more emphasis put more emphasis on the youths. He called them to create cooperatives. He said that there is quite much to benefit from ventures in cooperatives. He said that in the past, people where of the opinion that cooperatives were for poor countries, but that concept is not true. Canada and France has the best cooperatives. On his visit to Turkey with H. E. President Paul Biya, he saw about 5000 cooperatives.
Cameroonians have to consider Common Initiative Groups (CIG) to be a form of business which is tax free. CIG play a leading role in the economy of a country so it should not be neglected. Directives have been given to enable the smooth functioning of cooperatives according to OHADA document unifying rules.
The Minister gave a brief history of cooperatives by saying that these entities had long existed before independence of Cameroon to guide cocoa and coffee producers in the course of their activity. Cameroon Co-operative Credit Union League, Ltd. (CAMCUL) is an example. After 1920, the state came out with rules to permit cooperatives play roles in the economic growth society with respect to cocoa and coffee production. Today the OHADA UNIFORM ACT on agriculture has came to guide farmers
Today, cooperatives have come to make Cameroonians “dynamic.” In the words of H.E. PAUL BIYA, “cooperatives offer about 100 million jobs opportunities in the world.
