The importance of Agriculture in Cameroon can never be overemphasized. Although oil and timber were the mainstays in the past, Cameroon's economy's presence and future are Agriculture due to its overwhelming importance in human survival and Community and economic development.
What is Agriculture?
Agriculture is defined as the art or science of cultivating the soil to produce crops and animal husbandry for human consumption.
Agriculture to man is as important as life and as ancient as civilization. Right from the Stone Age through the agrarian age to the modern era, the importance of agriculture to man has cut across virtually every aspect of his existence.
From producing food to providing raw materials to industries and developing communities, agriculture always takes the lead for the highest contribution to human existence.
Importance of Agriculture in Cameroon (10 Advantages)
Below are the main advantages or importance of agriculture in Cameroon:
1. Production and Provision of Food for Human Consumption
Among the basic needs of man, food ranks first. In Cameroon today, there is a rising demand for food due to a continuous increase in the country's population. Agriculture ranks first on this list because of the food crisis that looms in Cameroon and worldwide.
As life continues to bite harder, more and more attention is being shifted to food first before any other thing. Thus, there will always be a continuously expanded market for agricultural produce.
Virtually every branch of agriculture, including horticulture, poultry, animal husbandry, forestry, and fishery, has a high demand for food commodities, dairy products, and raw materials produced in the sector.
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2. Provision of Raw Materials
The world will always need raw materials produced in Cameroon to support its manufacturing industry. Countries in Europe, Asia, and North America are keenly in demand of natural materials such as timber, crops, animals skins, rubber, etc., for the successful running of their manufacturing sector.
Although they could get their raw materials worldwide, especially in Africa, Cameroon happens to be the leading supplier of some of the most vital raw materials worldwide.
3. Employment of Labour
Given the rate of unemployment in the country and the high demand for food commodities, agriculture is practically the number one sector with the highest level of employment in Cameroon.
As evidence, I have a friend in Bamenda whose cassava he planted with the luxury of time provided by the Covid-19 lockdown had started yielding tubers. Her interest in farming is evident as she plans to give more time, effort, and investment to agriculture in the coming year. As I speak to you, she is earnestly looking for additional land for that purpose.
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4. Environmental Protection
Agricultural activities, especially in tree planting and cultivation of crops, help protect the environment. The actions of land cultivators or Farmers contribute to the prevention of erosion in the environment.
In forestry, the environment benefits from protecting trees against strong winds and storms. There is increasing fear of the effect of global warming; tree planting, which is the mainstay of forestry, is of immense help to the country's environment even while contributing income to the economy.
5. Preservation of Species
Without the Farmers who continue to preserve species of crops and domestic animals, birds, and fishes through cultivation, husbandry, poultry, fishery, and forestry, many species would have been extinct.
Through agriculture that has been in practice over the ages, species in various agriculture sectors are preserved from generation to generation. Some have even gone through improvement processes like crossbreeding, which aid in producing better grades of crops, animals, fowls, fishes, and trees.
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6. Foreign Exchange
Cameroon cannot do without participating in Foreign Trade as a modern nation. According to economists, there will be no balance of payment if Cameroon only buys from her global counterparts.
Therefore, the importance of agriculture regarding Foreign Trade is that it helps the country exchange its agricultural produce such as cocoa, palm oil, palm kernel, animal skins, etc., with foreign goods brought into the country.
7. Boost Export
Exportable goods in Cameroon such as timber, rubber, cocoa, ethanol, and many more are all products of the agricultural sector of the economy.
Most of the raw materials needed for booming manufacturing sectors in these countries are agricultural produce from Cameroon. The export sector of Cameroon would be incomplete without agriculture which, apart from crude oil, represents the country's primary source of export goods.
8. Means of Subsistence
Although modern technology has brought revolutionary development to global agriculture where most Farmers in the international system are mechanized farming using high-tech machinery and equipment, most Cameroonian Farmers still operate at the subsistence level.
Most Farmers in Cameroon are actually not much concerned about the commercial aspect of agriculture; all they care for is to produce what can sustain them and their families. What they manage to sell sometimes is simply as much as trade by barter, where they sell just a fraction of their farm produce to get other commodities for their consumption.
Even though a large number of the Cameroonian population are in white and blue color jobs while some are into one business or the other, a more significant percentage are actively engaged in agriculture to earn their living.
Experience even shows that even those who are into white color jobs, e.g., Civil Servants, are partially involved in one form of agriculture or another. For instance, about 60 percent of Poultry farms in some states of the nation are owned by Civil Servants who use it as an additional supply for their family needs.
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9. Source of Interdependency Among Tribes
Agriculture in Cameroon plays a significant role in unifying the many tribes of Cameroon through Interdependency in agro-products.
For instance, the northwestern part of the country produces palm oil and fruits such as orange, etc., while the West specializes in dairy products. This creates a mutual relationship among the regions that transcend tribalism and the country's deep-sited ethnicity.
10. National Income
Agriculture generates revenue to the national purse through taxes collected mainly through local governments in ticketing and gains made from international trade.
Conclusion
These ten of the most vital importance of agriculture in Cameroon are the key reasons to invest in the agricultural sector in Cameroon.
Thus, the article can be classified as informative, educational, and inspirational.
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