CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

            Agriculture is one of the most important occupation all over the world, is also the oldest profession in the world. Agriculture account for about 20 percent of GDP in the African sub region (World Bank, 2005). two third of the people derive from livelihoods and 40 percent of exports commodities come from this sector ( World Bank, 2000) ; over the last 20 years , agriculture has been disappointing : The performance of the agriculture in East and central Africa has been particularly disappointing, stymied by conflict , political instability and recurring poor climatic condition(Taiwo, 2012) Agriculture and food production per capital has been stagnated in last ten years ( FAO 2006) yield of grain crops are less than half , those of developing region in Europe, Asia and south America .If Africa is to feed itself , lift its people out of poverty and attain a satisfactory level of sustainable growth, the poor in the performance of its agricultural sector must be addressed .              

          Agriculture is the basic source of food supply of all the countries of the world. Due to heavy pressure of population in underdeveloped and developing countries and its rapid increase, the demand for food is increasing at a fast rate. If agriculture fails to meet the rising demand of food products, it is found to affect adversely the growth rate of economy. Raising supply of food by agricultural sector has, therefore, great importance for economic growth of our country.

  Agriculture is a major earner of foreign exchange for Cameroon (30 percent of Gross Domestic Product) and provide employment for the bulk of the population, most of the agricultural production is by small scale farmers of the rural areas who make up about 90 percent of the farming population (FAO 2002)                                                  

             Cameroun is blessed with fertile soil, but small holder and farmer who use rudimentary production technique cultivate most of these land with resultant low yields, small holder faced many problems such as poor infrastructure, poor access to modern inputs (GHF Fouepe, 2008).

       In order to resolve these issues, the government re-emphasized cooperative which is an association where a group of people with the same interest combine all their efforts, their different expertise and in order to promote the well-being of all (IRNUDS, 1976). According to Develtere (1995), Cooperative is a medium through which services like provision of farm inputs, farm implements, farm mechanization, agricultural loans, agricultural extension, member education, marketing of members.

 BY now, Cooperative is an area where many small holder farmers feel free to change their lives, cooperative can serve as a strong and viable economic alternative. The increase in agricultural cooperatives in Cameroon suggests the need for research that critically examines the performance of different forms of agricultural cooperative under different conditions so that an inductive grounded the theory for agricultural cooperative in the development of food production in western Cameroon precisely at FOUMBOT division

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

          In the effort to improve     the agricultural sector in Cameroon, the government embarked on various programmes some of which were listed by MINADER. As  programme for the improvement  of competitiveness of family Agropastoral farms ( ACEFA. ) ,Project d’investissement et de développement des marches agricoles au Cameroun (PIDMA,2013) ;ENABLE youth program (2017 ) ; Programme d’appui a l installation des jeunes agriculteurs ( PAIJA, 2008), programme d amelioration de la productivité des petits exploitants ( Sapep,2015).                             ;                                                                          

Most of the   agricultural production in Cameroon is by small scale farmer of the rural areas who make up about 90 percent of the farming population (FAO, 2002), and is a challenge in a country where about 90 percent of the agricultural outputs is accounted for by small scale farmers. As such, the small-scale farmers who are characterized by low income, low resources utilization, small nature of farmlands will find it difficult to feed the over increasing   population, presently the population growth rate is higher than food production level, population in Cameroon is expected to reach 26.52 million by the end of 2020, according to trading economics global macro models and analysts expectation (Cameroon population,1960 -2019).

        The farmers are even burdened with cost of farm inputs, insufficient farming techniques; inadequate infrastructure, poor producers’ price and heavy constraints in obtaining credit     as commercial bank refuse loan to this farmer. Because of that many cooperative societies have been formed all over the country to transform agricultural production and raise the standard of living in the rural areas, despite the effort or the contribution made by those cooperatives societies  towards agricultural development in Cameroon, this effort has not been evenly known and it was in an attempt to address such problem that this study was designed to find out the influence of agricultural cooperatives in the development of agricultural production in western Cameroon precisely at Foumbot council.

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

             There is a growing recognition that if third world countries are to achieve lasting development , special attention has to be given to modernization of traditional small farmers  so that their agricultural production can increase (KALN, 1978, NORMAN, 1979) , therefore , there  is need for a development  strategy  that can reach small farmers, therefore this study will be of good help to policy makers, the government and those who are interested in improving agricultural activities or farming agricultural cooperatives, activities by which  people take place in formalized long term , deliberate and to great extent, specified form in the social and especially economic share of human Endeavour.                                               

1.4 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

Small holder farmers in FOUMBOT are still experiencing low income for their household sustenance; they are also burdened with cost of farm inputs, insufficient farming technique, and inadequate infrastructure. Despite the increase in agricultural cooperative to transform agricultural production and raise the standard of living in the rural areas, the effort has not been evenly known and it was in an attempt to address such problem that this study was designed to find out the influence of agricultural cooperatives in the development of agricultural production in western Cameroon precisely at Foumbot council               

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the socio-economic characteristics of members of the cooperative society in Foumbot council?
2. what are the activities carry out by cooperative society in Foumbot?
3. What is the contribution of farmer’s cooperatives societies in the development of agriculture in Foumbot?  
4. What are the problems associated with the cooperative in Foumbot

scope of the study

         Study is based on the influence of agricultural cooperation on agricultural food production in west Cameroon, the choice of the study area (Foumbot) is centered on the fact peasant farmers who come together it common goal of influencing the value chain with respect to agricultural production

limitation of the study

        Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire)

   1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Overall objective

In general, this study set out to determine the extents to which the cooperative societies can influence the development of agriculture in Foumbot

Specific objectives:

1. determine the socioeconomic characteristics of members of the cooperative societies in Foumbot
2. identify the types of agricultural activities in Foumbot council
3. to determine the contribution of farmers’ cooperative on the improvement of agricultural food production
4. Examine problems affecting cooperative activities in Foumbot council