Incisive Journalism in Cameroon: The Best of ��Cameroon Report�� (1978 � 1986)

12. Cameroon Report 24/10/1982, FONADER: Not yet the Farmer’s Bank

41 12 Cameroon Report 24/10/1982, FONADER: Not yet the Farmer’s Bank Introduction: Installing the newly-appointed Director-General of the National Fund for Rural Development, FONADER, the Minister of Agriculture spoke of the need to transform the fund into a real farmer’s bank. SAM-NUVALA FONKEM is of the opinion that there wouldn’t be any grounds for such an appeal if there wasn’t the strong feeling that FONADER was not fulfilling its mission, namely to boost agricultural production and upgrade the standard of living in rural areas by making loans available to farmers on a rational basis: Installing the newly-appointed Director General of FONADER, the Minister of Agriculture conceded that the previous management which pioneered the fund was plagued by the usual problems affecting most enterprises at the early stages. These problems include inadequate financial resources to meet growing demands, ill-adapted and unrealistic conditions for granting agricultural loans for specific projects, and a sloppy management of finances and personnel. In what was clearly a prescription for FONADER’s ailments, the Minister outlined measures taken or about to be taken to enable the fund fulfil its mission. These include a general clean-up of intervention units charged with the deployment of credits in rural areas, an internal reorganisation of FONADER, better training programmes for staff and a healthy management for cooperatives. Other measures 42 include stepping up the campaign for the repayment of loans and the setting up of a viable accounting system. The Minister also appealed to the population not to regard FONADER merely as an institution for dispensing credits to farmers but also as an intermediary for government subsidies to the agricultural sector and foreign investments. As a government intermediary, it handles phytosanitary campaigns, distributes subsidies for fertilizers and is involved in the setting up of Young Farmers’ Groups and village water projects. Given present forecast, the Minister went on, Cameroon’s population should be around 14 million by the year 2000 with un urban population of between 3 and 7 million. Needless to say such an urban population growth would be explosive with a ratio of one peasant providing food for about eight urban dwellers. To check this situation, agricultural production would have to grow at a rate of 40% per year as opposed to the present 5 %. Agricultural credits may increase within the year but this objective may prove to be an uphill task if the recovery of agricultural loans continues to be slow and delinquent. Granted that greater financial resources could be made in future to meet public demands, the entire mission of FONADER may end up in failure if there are no fixed modalities for a rational distribution of credits on a regional quota basis. An irrational distribution of agricultural credits which up till now are usually obtained by absentee landlords who are far removed from the plight of rural communities and by wheeler-dealers whose only collateral is a visiting card obtained from a political big shot or a real estate charlatan and who usually has no other intention beyond gratifying his 43 taste for all the latest automobiles and splendid mansions. Such a distribution system can only end up bolstering the weight of an empty, materialistic, bourgeoisie whose growth continues to be a liability to the nation. Sam-Nuvala Fonkem 44 ...