Agricultural stakeholders in Yaounde IV council area in the Centre Region have constituted themselves into a cooperation through which agricultural produce in the municipality could be channeled from the farms to the market for a better livelihood of all involved in the chain.

The initiative launched in the council area on Thursday December 17 is that of an international non-governmental organisation, “Partenariat France et Afrique pour le co développement (PFAC)” that targets all the 360 council areas in the country.

According to the National Coordinator of the association, Pauline Eyebe Effa, the idea was borne out of her stay and experience in Brazil. “I did this action in Brazil and I decided to do same in my home country. We seek to bring people together, empower them to promote their income-generating activities so that they can improve their living standards as well as the development of the territory where they live,” she said.

The aim, she noted, is that farmers who are most often cheated as their produce are bought at nothing from the production zones only to be sold at cut-throat prices in urban centres will hence benefit from the fruits of their labour. The sales cooperatives, she added, at the same time helps to permanently fight against price hikes given that the produce are channeled into town on almost daily basis.

Lauding the initiative, the Sub-director in charge of Social Economy and Development in the Ministry of Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Lucas Ondobo, said “the initiative can help small-holder farmers to improve on their living conditions.

In 2010, our ministry signed a partnership agreement with PFAC to really encourage people at the local level to organise themselves into cooperatives so that government can design specific policies for them through the expressed needs of the unions.” He said it is a good initiative as it helps people to be responsible at their own local level.