If we examine our agricultural potential with a little more patriotic spirit, we shall discover that our vision of 2035 is not just a mere dream. Indeed the stars are aligned in our favour and this is so only if we can take the path of industrialisation.
There can be no other better time than now that our economy is not among the worst on the continent. It is therefore important to be guided by sound economic theories some of which hold that a country can only transform when it finds itself on a growth path and not when it faces a recession or when the economy is plummeting.
That, we have been and will continue to be, an agriculture-driven economy, leaves us as a country that abounds with commodities, but commodities on which we have relied only as raw materials for export to the industries of Western countries.
We also feature among producers of other commodities such as coffee, cotton, groundnuts and even crude oil. So why must we rely solely on these as commodities for export for small cash dictated for us as prices by the big manufacturers of the west, who in turn send back to us the finished product?
According to the 2013 economic report for Africa, published by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union Commission (AUC) up to 90% of income from coffee goes to rich consuming countries, while our coffee and cocoa farmers till the soil day and night and get only very little from their sweat.
We certainly stand on a vantage point since our economy is agricultural commodity-driven, we equally stand a chance of creating enabling conditions to focus on commodity-driven industrialisation.
This is where our major commodity producers, such as the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), SOCAPALM in the agric sector, the mining sector, the oil sector and above all, the energy sector come in to play a major role.
Each of these sectors must be put in the mood to acknowledge the necessity for the transformation of our economy, turning our farmers from producers of raw materials for western industries to manufacturers of the same raw material.
This trend will not only transform our economy and better the lot of our farmers, it will create millions of jobs and in turn, more jobs will reduce poverty and more value will be added to our agriculture, will put the manufacturing engines in motion, and why not, open up for a middle class that will boost the demand for more goods and services.
And when we emphasise adding more value to our agriculture, it obviously means that our cocoa will be turned into chocolate and other secondary products and the benefits will certainly be ploughed back to the farmer, change his life style and restore dignity to the rural farmer and at the same time attract the youths to the farms. The time for all this is now.
