By Sah Terence Animbom
Coffee and cocoa farmers in the North West and South West regions of the Republic of Cameroon lament the loss of their farm produce to the wild bushes of the region as a result of the ongoing Anglophone Crisis that has taken in a very progressive manner one ugly move or another since its escalation in October 2017.
The months of November, December and January are usually the months during which coffee is harvested and hauled. It is how ever very regrettable that when you visit the highest coffee producing areas like Boyo Division and Bui Division, coffee has been abandoned in the bushes with very little quantities harvested and hauled.
The SUN spoke with Eric Kemta Tazoh, the North West Regional manager for the National Cocoa and Coffee Board who revealed the difficulties faced by the farmers and board during this period of political instability in the two English speaking regions of the country. “At the moment we have not received up to 100 tons of hauled coffee in our warehouses whereas usually by this time, we always have above 10,000 tons. Although the yield this year was better because the crisis sent more farmers to the farms, the harvest is very poor as many farmers were forced to abandon their produce and relocate to other places for safety,” he said.
Many farmers have harvested and hauled their coffee especially in Bui, Boyo and Momo divisions but cannot transfer it to either NWCA or to coffee and cocoa board warehouse. A very reliable source told The SUN that a high scale coffee and cocoa farmer in Momo was charged FCFA 500,000 by separatists’ fighters for each truck load of his coffee and cocoa to be transported from Ngie. He did four trips that cost him FCFA 2.000.000. It is worth mentioning that this is the trend all farmers seeking to transport their produce from the rural areas to the urban centers face. They are either charged fabulous sums or have their produce destroyed through deliberate burning.
Kemta Tazoh also regretted the fact that most coffee and cocoa buyers are even scared of coming into the region due to the worsening nature of the crisis on a daily basis that has now been dominated by kidnappings and ransom taking.
The main cash crop of the North West Region is coffee and many North Westerners testify to have been sponsored through school thanks to money made from the sale of coffee. The North West Cooperatives Association is reputed to have been one of the highest employers of youths in the Region but the situation of the cooperative today has very little to be admired about it. Most, if not, all Anglophone Cameroonians know of the prestigious North West Cooperatives Association (NWCA) which has been the champion of human development in the North West Region during the good times of the 70s right up to the late 90s. Though the crisis has contributed more to the further collapse of the North West Cooperatives Association, it is worth mentioning that the collapse began decades before the start of the now obvious Anglophone crisis.
Some economic experts trace the beginning of the collapse of the NWCA during the mid and late 80s when President Paul Biya signed the structural adjustment program with the World Bank that systematically killed very solid institutions in the Country.