Rice harvested at Galim rots at the farm - Adrian Ngo'o Bitomo

Adrian Ngo'o Bitomo has just bluntly declared to Cameroon Tribune (CT), concerning the agropole of rice production of Galim, in the region of western Cameroon, that it is a "stalemate".

He pointed an accusing finger on the agronomic problems, those related to the access to roads, the difficulties concerning the storage magazines and those relating to the power of hulling rice into electrical energy, because Galim has only one. As a result, the rice harvested at Galim rots on the spot.

In all respects, Galim rice situation is intolerable, when we know that to feed its over 22 million people, Cameroon is obliged to import each year a very significant quantity of foodstuffs, including rice, cereal which occupies a place of choice in the diet of the population both in urban than in rural areas.

The available statistics gave an idea of the financial losses caused by massive imports of rice. At the opening of the agropastoral show in Ebolowa, January 2011, the president of the Republic, Paul Biya, had revealed that "we spent 500 billion FCfa in 2009, for the import of flour, rice and fish, seven times more than that in 1994.

Subsequently, during his tour to the village dedicated to the research, the officials of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation revealed that with rice in particular, imports cost the country about 200 billion FCfa per year, with annual national demand of 600,000 tons at the time.

Therefore, it is understandable why the head of state had called the Cameroonians to free themselves from dependence on imported food products, recalling the passage that the participants in the international Conference -Africa 21, had registered in the Yaoundé Declaration that "Africa should no longer import to eat.”

It is this logic that a coalition of civil society organizations on the occasion of the agro-pastoral show in Ebolowa, presented a campaign to banish the site exposure and sale of imported products.

A few years later, the Civic Association for the defense of collective interests and one of the NGOs in the manoeuvre, said that Cameroon imported rice for more than 211 billion FCfa in 2013, coming mainly from India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and Myanmar.

From analysis, this release of currencies not only aggravates the imbalance in our trade but especially, is indicative of what Cameroonians who are still facing the agony of unemployment contribute. Perhaps, without knowing it is for the creation of jobs in the countries where rice is imported, using them as an outlet.

Can Cameroon, which has officially posted the ambition to access the status of emerging countries in the year 2035, afford to build on this momentum? The answer is a thousand times no because on the long and difficult path towards this level of economic development, the modernization of agriculture in the broadest sense is a prerequisite for Cameroon.

The history of developed countries teaches that the development of agriculture has played a major role in the alteration and improvement of the structuring of the economies. Accordingly, we must give a boost to local rice, taking into account the importance of this product in feeding the people.

An experience witnessed in Cameroon shows that the trend can be reversed quickly if and only if a more proactive policy is implemented. Did we not see several years ago, imports of frozen chicken collapse like castles of cards under strong pressure from civil society, supported by more favourable and timely regulation taken by the government?

What was successful against the cuts of frozen chicken imported to support local farmers can also succeed against imports of rice. Advocacy for local rice is based at least on a size argument, beyond the economic and financial aspect.

Simply remove the obstacles which hinder the industry the level of production and the transformation must be increased, the establishment of good distribution and the launch of the innovative to generate marketing campaigns to support sales in the long term.