The state of road dictates the price of the goods in Cameroon

The poor state of the roads and the multiple harassments faced by economic operators affect the cost of food sold to the final consumer.

The road appears as the mode of transport for national and intra-Community trade. If the road network is in poor condition, the cost of transport of goods will greatly impact the cost of the products, easily seen in the carriage of goods by road within Cameroon or for traffic Interstate in Africa.

Consequently, according to experts, an increase in the total cost of the delivery of goods which is a persistent obstacle to the competitiveness of the national economy.

In Cameroon, a regime of plantain produced in the East and sold in the same region at 1500 F is sold between 2500 and 2800 F, once delivered in the city of Yaoundé. The fact is that the quality of the road network is important in the implementation of the final price of the goods to the consumer.

The producer or merchant who pays transport fares at a high price will pass this cost on the product due to a share of road annoyance and most importantly, the poor state of the road. This situation is even more accentuated in the twenties of transit corridors in Africa serving as anchor for growth, trade and regional integration.

Unfortunately, the majority of these corridors are not all in good condition as noted the different experts and road transport actors who took part a few days ago at the international seminar on the issue of the carriage of goods by road in Africa.

According to Sidiki Sidibe, Beninoire road expert, because of the degradation of these roads, the cost of transport represents almost half of the cost of the merchandise. Studies are able to establish that transport represents on average in Cameroon of 60% of the total cost of the merchandise on degraded roads, compared with less than 40% on rehabilitated roads and at the finish, it is the consumer who pays the price.

There is a set of other items that come into consideration on the cost price of these products. Outside the bad state of roads, the economic operator, owner of a big carrier transporting goods through one of the corridors added on the selling price of other expenses, in this case, transit, fuel, customs, expenses caused by the harassment on road and other expenses incurred during the course of the trip. "Everything is calculated, even different lunches of the carrier taken throughout this long journey", says the expert.

The cost of transport of a truck carrying a container, along the Douala-N'Djamena is estimated between 1.8 and 2 million. With regard to the Douala-Bangui corridor, the road pays about 1.5 million. For transit traffic, it is common ground that the CAR evacuates 95% of its traffic by Cameroon against 90% for Chad.

In his briefing note on the evolution of inflation in 2014, the national Institute of statistics reveals the rise in general price for consumption by 1.9% against 2.1% in 2013. An increase which results in large part from the rising price of 7.7% of the prices of goods and transport services.

To establish the relationship between the cost of transport and food prices the INS analysis speaks of the price increase (15% on average) of the pump to actual fuel since July 1, 2014 and official taxi rate from the city which went from 200 to 250 f. "The impact of the soaring prices of food transport were felt in July" published the INS.

Confirming the same source, in Douala, the weekend following the increase in fuel prices, the potato bag that was retailed at 20 000 CFA francs is went up to 25 000 CFA francs on the wholesale market.

Similarly, the tomato crate which cost 8000 Fcfa went up to 10 000 CFA francs. Strong increases were also recorded on other starches: green bananas (17%), plantains (14%), potato (17%), white Yam (11%), cassava (14%) and Cocoyam (25%).

In such a context, only road networks integrating in good condition and free from red tape could achieve fair exchanges between African countries.