World Financial crisis: Cameroon's agricultural sector suffers major set back

By Kingsley F. Njoka
A  research report from the Cameroon Chamber of Commerce on the present world financial crunch has revealed  that Cameroon's commercial Agricultural sector is one of the hardest hit areas of the economy.

During a press Conference that followed the Chamber’s general assembly in Cameroon’s economic capital recently, the Chamber of Commerce president, Hon Christophe Eken, revealed that local companies involved in the commercialisation of products like timber, cotton, palm produce, and rubber are hardest hit.

The report explains that the, exportation  of some of these products is already facing serious problems as the Douala port is jammed with products destined for foreign markets as there has been a sharp drop in demand.

A plantation owner in Kumba, of the South West Region, Pa Njikam, revealed that the rubber he supplied since December has not been paid for as local buyers have reduced the price from FCFA 500  a kilo to FCFA 200 and are even threatening further cuts.

The report equally talks of the crises in the cotton sector with fears that over 370,000 Cameroonians may lose their jobs if measures are not taken to arrest the situation. Cameroon cotton cultivated mainly in the northern region has recently witnessed a drop of over 50 percent in income, from 68.9 billions in 2007  down to 38.46 billion in 2008 with further drops envisaged as the crisis hits china, the major importer of Cameroon's cotton.

According to Hon Christophe Eken, the crisis has hit Cameroon for some months now and immediate measures are required to arrest the situation before it escalates.

As a result of the general drop in activities, companies in the timber sector have already laid off some 2000 workers, with over 1500 said to be on technical leave.

Meanwhile the crisis has equally  taken a heavy toll on the State  due to a drop in the price of oil in the world market from 120 dollars per barrel last year to 40 to 50 dollars per barrel this year, with a noticeable drop in the local demand for petroleum products.  As a result of a general slow down in activities, the state is estimated to be losing over FCFA 11billion every month.

The report concludes that since the crisis started, the Cameroon government has already lost over FCFA 300 billion, about 2 percent of its gross domestic product, GDP.

Comments

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How is Cameroon tackling this world financial crisi? or What are the various strtegies put in place by the Cameroonian government to figth this financial crisis?

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It 's a pity that Cameroon has to suffer such a great lose but one thing that keep baffling my mind is the reason why the Cameroon government will not create factories and industries for the processing of some of the local products into finished goods such that we will have at least a local market for some of the good like cocoa and coffee and also reduce the importation of such goods which are sold at sky rocketed prices

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the crisis has hit Cameroon for some months now and immediate measures are required to arrest the situation before it escalates.

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