Gov’t urged to improve policies to boost agricultural entrepreneurship.

The hybrid event was organised by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Centre, SBEC, of the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation.

It was to present a report on “Boosting Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Cameroon: Strategies for Sustainable Growth”. It was attended by some entrepreneurs, representatives of agricultural policymakers and financial institutions.

According to the organisers, the roundtable was a platform to discuss the importance of stimulating agricultural entrepreneurship to ensure sustainable economic growth in Cameroon. 

The SBEC Assistant Manager, Nsengue Laurent Brice, explained that the stakeholder meeting was also geared towards assessing existing strategies for encouraging the financial inclusion of agricultural businesses in Cameroon.

He said it was also aimed at mapping out strategies that stakeholders could adopt to improve the agricultural entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country.

Speaking about the findings of the study conducted, Nsengue outline challenges such as access to land, access to financing, impacts of climate change and women’s access to land amongst others as hampering doing agric-business in Cameroon. 

“We want to draw the attention of government that they should adapt their agricultural policy to the new dispensation that we have today like climate change and others,” the SBEC Assistant Manager told The Guardian Post.

Stating that challenges like climate change cannot fought against, he pointed that public policies with climate change adaptation mechanisms could be adapted. 

“The government should make sure that the conditions for getting finances are smoothened so that farmers can get loans for their agricultural adventures. We also have land issue and the government need to re-adapt it land policy in the country to make sure that all Cameroonians including women and youth should have equal access to lands for their agricultural activities,” he added. 

Enter MINEPIA official

On her part, an official from Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industry, MINEPIA, Donfang Roselyne, said the discussion during the event and the study report presented were very timely. 

She then acknowledged the findings of the study which showed that some of policies were outdated and with new developments in contemporary times like climate change, land crisis and other challenges. 

“I think that we need to review the approach to climate change by drawing meteorological structures closer to farmers so as to improve the knowledge of farmers on how to adapt to the changing climate,” the MINEPIA official said. 

Regarding agricultural entrepreneurship, she opined that: “The government can re-orientate its subvention adapt to today’s challenges. For issues like climate change, I think the government could organise a roundtable with entrepreneurs so that we can discuss on the strategies to cube the impacts of the climate change”. 

It is worth noting that agriculture is the mainstay of Cameroon’s economy, engaging an estimated 70% of the economically active population and accounting for an estimated 80% of the primary sector's contribution to the country's GDP. 

According to World Bank reports, Cameroon has fundamental pillars for the growth of agricultural entrepreneurship in terms of labour, land, climate, regulation and access to finance.

However, agricultural entrepreneurship by SMEs in Cameroon continues to face a number of difficulties, including the problem of women's access to land, the alignment of customary laws with positive law in terms of access to land, and the integration of agroecology into legal texts relating to agriculture and livestock in Cameroon. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3214 of Friday August 30, 2024