Processus associatif chancelant au Cameroun : dégât collatéral des ajustements de politique cotonnière ?

Cotton, cultivated mainly for export, constitutes the main cash crop in the African savannah. In Cameroon, about 360000 farmers are involved in the production of 250000 tons of seedcotton since the year 2000. Its emergence has played an instrumental role both in the expansion of innovative growing techniques and in the development of the agricultural sector. The cotton production has developed along with the integration of farmers groups to cope with the input credits but through modalities influenced by the adjustment of the cotton policy in the country. Two periods marked the development of local associations. In the positive phase (up to 2002) the cotton development company benefited from an efficient associative process and vice versa. In this functional system that was mainly supported by external funding, the principle of solidarity caution played a primordial role to the cotton company, greatly reducing the risk of non reimbursement. Following the liberalization policy of the sector, the former functional groupings that were operated as Common Initiative Groups were reorganised into OPCC (Organisation de Producteurs de Coton du Cameroun). Insufficient funding coupled with unfavourable global market conditions did not allow this national organisation to sufficiently assume its role of providing farm inputs, implying the tendency of increased costs, insufficient quantity and often late delivery. This negative phase still persists with harmful consequences. The farmers' associative process is unstable and it therefore appears like an impediment to re-launch the cotton sector.