Cocoa and coffee buying in Cameroon: the role of the marketing board in the South West and North West Provinces, 1978-1987
Cocoa and robusta coffee are valuable cash crops in the South West Province. In the same way arabica coffee is an important source of income for the small farmers of the North West Province. The marketing of these crops is controlled by the national marketing board, the ONCPB (Office National de Commercialisation des Produits de Base), whose name in English is National Produce Marketing Board (NPMB). The general pattern is that the Marketing Board handles the cocoa and coffee at the export level (in large compounds in Kumba, Bamenda and Bota/Limbe) but delegates crop handling at the primary and intermediate levels to subordinate enterprises, which - in these two provinces but not elsewhere in Cameroon - are called Licensed Buying Agents (LBA). In the North West Province the LBA functions are entrusted to cooperative enterprises only, but in the South West Province private enterprises are also involved, notably in Kumba Subdivision. Seen from a purely handling perspective the Board has only indirect contacts with the farmers because of the LBAs standing in between, but in recent years the board has begun to establish direct contacts as well. These contacts, which are effected by a large field staff, concern 1) quality control at the primary marketing level, and 2) the payment of bonuses for high-quality cocoa and robusta coffee. Although this report is primarily descriptive, it attempts to analyse some problems that have troubled the board in this part of Cameroon. These are: 1) the reconciliation of the interests of the Board and its LBAs; 2) the strained relations between the Board and the cooperative apex organization in the North West Province, which culminated in a serious conflict in 1980; 3) the rivaly between cooperative and private LBAs in the South West Province; 4) the difficulties of effectively deploying the Board's field staff
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| Format: | biblioteca |
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1988
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| Subjects: | CACAO, CAFE, MERCADEO, COMPRA, COOPERATIVAS DE COMPRA, PRECIOS, CAMERUN, |
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