World Bank sounds alarm on decreasing agric output in Cameroon

Country's agricultural productivity has dropped seriously

Yemti Harry Ndienla

Though the economies of most developing countries in general and Cameroon in particular depend almost sorely on agriculture,agricultural productivity in these countries has dropped seriously in recent times, a recent World Bank report has noted.
unfortunately,this output drop has continued despite huge investments by development partners, including the World Bank.
It is within this backdrop that expert in the agric sector meet recently in Yaounde, Cameroon to examine the world Bank report.In course of the workshop participants who included representatives of the World Bank, researchers, academics, actors in the agricultural sector and representatives of government departments concerned with management and development of agriculture all observed that there was a general poor performance of the agricultural sector in Cameroon, with productivity far below the needs of the population.
It was observed that this poor performance is not necessary, especially considering that Cameroon has enormous potential for high and diversified agricultural output.
Working on the theme, «Agriculture at the service of development: What options for Cameroon?», participants at the workshop sought to find solutions to this counter-performance, especially with the current high prices of food stuffs in the market which, according to them, should motivate farmers to produce more.
The participants identified as a major stumbling block to adequate measures for improving productivity, the difficulty in gaining access to statistics on activities in the agricultural sector to permit for a better follow-up.
They also observed that the sector was further affected by deficient rural infrastructure, mediocre output, underdeveloped channels of information, meagre financing, and with all these leading to a general paltry productivity.
Proffering solutions and recommendations to help out the sector, Alain de Janvry a World Bank expert, said problems in the sector were specific to individual countries and that each country must discuss the problems and formulate its own agenda.
He recommended such measures as the reinforcement of capacities of actors, decentralisation of management, with increased coordination, the identification of roles by private and public partners and the establishment of equilibrium between the two.
Other participants recommended an amelioration of public expenditure with government taking over areas where private persons cannot handle, the amelioration of performance of small holders and private individuals through provision of fertilisers, high yielding seeds, materials, financial credits and easing access to markets.
At a press briefing that followed many blamed the World Bank for not doing enough in terms of direct investments to boost the sector and government for her inertia and unresponsiveness to the plight of the population in the face of hikes in food prices.
At the end of the workshop, participants recommended among other things, that any programmes to diversify agricultural production and improve productivity must be preceded by proper data collection for adequate follow-up
However, many questioned why, for example, government is laying much emphasis on the importation of rice when there are huge potentials for home production.