Lukong Pius Nyuylime
14 April 2008
Cocoa, coffee and cotton farmers will this year receive the sum of CFA 1.4 billion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to boost their production, an official of that Ministry has said.
"The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative has made available money to increase production and productivity in the cocoa, coffee and cotton sector", Tchokam Jean Pieere Ngassa, chief of Projects and Programmes at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on April 10 during a working session with representatives of cooperative unions. The money which will be managed by farmers themselves will be sent to them through their various cooperative unions, 32 of which represented them at last week's meeting. The CFA 1.4 billion will be disbursed immediately a collaboration agreement between MINADER and cooperative unions is signed. The agreement sets to ensure the judicious use of the funds.
According to the MINADER official, farmers will use the money to buy inputs, notably, fertilizers, chemicals and nursery renewals. "The money which will be handed to you is meant for cocoa, coffee and cotton production and not for anything else", Tchokam warned. The warning takes root from past behaviours where inputs meant for cash crops are usually diverted to food crops which yield faster and provide quick cash. He underscored that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is only there to guide the farmers to use the money properly. "Sanctions await defaulters", he reiterated.
Meantime, farmers complained that input suppliers have often manifested bad faith towards them once they hear that money has been given them by giving out products at cutthroat prices. Against this backdrop, input suppliers were urged to give out the products at acceptable prices.
The Yaounde meeting was attended by representatives of farmers' union, input suppliers and officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
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1.4 Billion FCFA!! ROUGHLY 2.8 million Euros.Does this mean 2.8m euros shared among 10.000 farmers will help aleviate their problems. More with the corrupt system in Cameroon, I wonder how much money will actually end in the hands of the farmers.What a shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1