The cooperative strengthened its dedication in 2024 by turning into a part of the ‘Projet d’Appui au Développement du Cacao’ (PAD-CACAO), which goals to develop cocoa farming in Cameroon. The programme is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Growth.
To establish the primary areas of intervention, the PAD-CACAO challenge deployed a Nationwide Coordination workforce in Ihund (the cooperative’s head workplace) on 22 and 23 Might 2024, as a way to perform a participatory prognosis with the affiliation’s members.
Via discussions and sharing of experiences, this participatory prognosis was meant to:
Analysis objectives and course of
Via discussions and sharing of experiences, this participatory prognosis was meant to:
- accumulate socio-economic information on the cooperative’s members in order that actions may be tailored;
- perceive the primary difficulties encountered by the ladies producers and collect their options;
- outline an motion plan to achieve the cooperative’s objectives.
To satisfy a most variety of girls cocoa farmers, the Nationwide Coordination workforce went to Ihund, in addition to to the three places of work of the cooperative: Iaakok, Pendjock and Ndog Njé (which has merged with Ihund).
Animation of the Rural Girls of the Iaakok workplace
The 2 days of discussions had been organised in collaboration with the ‘Conseil Interprofessionnel du Cacao et du Café’ (CICC), which already helps the cooperative in its improvement.
Every participant crammed in a really detailed identification sheet to gather the next info:
- identification of the girl producer;
- her manufacturing, processing and advertising and marketing information;
- her monetary habits;
- any issues she has encountered and any options she might have for future motion.
Filling in identification sheets at Iaakok
The aim of gathering this info was to find out the income-generating actions, record the manufacturing issues, prioritise probably the most worthwhile crops and thus set up an motion plan to assist the cooperative to attain its objectives.
The outcomes of the prognosis
Due to a poor phone community within the area, solely 24 of the 50 girls anticipated obtained the invitation and took half within the conferences.
Nonetheless, evaluation of the info collected helped us to establish main socio-economic traits among the many cooperative’s members. The next are just a few key figures:
- solely 17% of the members are underneath the age of 35 (the strenuousness of the work is thus to be taken into consideration sooner or later actions to be carried out);
- 61% of the members have a major training stage and 35% a secondary training stage;
- 7 girls are financially depending on their kin;
- 100% of the ladies members of the cooperative make their residing from the advertising and marketing of agricultural merchandise, and solely 4% elevate livestock farming (not all of the cocoa fields are but in manufacturing, which implies that girls make their residing from different crops like cassava, macabo, yam, plantain bananas, and many others.);
- 74% of the monetary assets come from the producers’ personal cash;
- 40% of the members save their assets after gross sales and 35% have their very own checking account;
- 91% of the members pay their monetary obligations, together with membership charges and annual dues;
- 70% of the workforce is family-based, and solely 30% has momentary worker standing.
Strengths
Every farmer has between one and 4 plots of meals crops on common, and one hectare of cocoa timber. The prognosis recognized the crops that should be intensified as a way to pool advertising and marketing (primarily cassava and maize).
Due to the survey, it was additionally potential to establish the pure assets out there within the rural space of Ihund, and the extra earnings alternatives they might create as soon as developed.
The primary difficulties
Nevertheless, the survey additionally revealed main difficulties encountered by girls producers.
They talked about specifically the infertility of the soil (typically bolstered by the follow of slash-and-burn agriculture), the presence of bugs and pests that smash harvests, vital losses, particularly on plots cultivated in polyculture, the poor high quality of seeds, in addition to previous and inappropriate instruments.
By way of advertising and marketing, group gross sales actions are presently underneath improvement, however the producers deplore the poor state of the roads and the dearth of technique of transport, which make advertising and marketing very troublesome.
Discussions and sharing of experiences regarding manufacturing questions
Motion plan and areas of intervention
An motion plan has already been established with the ‘Conseil Interprofessionnel du Cacao et du Café’ to help the cooperative members for 3 years in all features of creating their enterprise:
- enterprise administration, management, administrative and monetary administration, negotiation,
- tools and infrastructure upkeep,
- cocoa farming data and experience (cocoa tree agrosystem, productiveness, cocoa farm regeneration, processing strategies, preservation, packaging, and extra).
- setting and high quality (sustainable environmental administration, consciousness of cocoa traceability, well being necessities, and so forth).
On the idea of the prognosis and all the info collected, the PAD-CACAO workforce determined to focus its help on supplying high-performance seeds and strengthening the agricultural data of the Rural Girls of the Littoral.
This represents an ideal step ahead for the cooperative. We will probably be holding an in depth eye on the outcomes of those actions over the approaching months!
Photograph of the Rural Girls of the Littoral on the cooperative’s head workplace in Ihund.
