Youth and Women Strategy
Women constitute more than 60% of the actors in the production of the six key crops concerned for the production of flour in Cameroon by PROFALCAM though many do not have access to secure land for production. Often they are expelled from the land by the landowners, including their brothers and their husband’s families.
Where there is land for sale, many do not have the money to buy it couple with the fact that the activities are painful and the profitability is minimal.
Agriculture as a profession is less attractive to young people because of:
- The hard work;
- Lack of access to funds to purchase land and equipment;
- A long waiting time before the sale of harvested agricultural products; often with very little profit;
Thus they resort to
- Motorcycle transportation business which they consider a better option than youth farming;
- They also invade every urban center in the country seeking for opportunities with fast turnover.
The PROFALCAM ecosystem provides some solutions to these problems and makes agriculture and agribusiness attractive to young people and profitable to women through:
Youth and the independent seed system strategy:
Seed multiplication is a specialized trade in agriculture that requires training and strict adherence to the production itinerary thus young people especially those with a level of education from secondary to university can fit in perfectly. Composite seeds and hybrid cereals; PIF for plantains; cuttings for roots and tubers; techniques of hardening in greenhouses for plantain and cassava seedlings are areas in which young people can get involved.
- Grouped into 5 to 10 members in a GIC or Simplified Cooperative, these young people (girls and boys) will operate in a given community to mainly produce seeds for PROFALCAM raw material producers in their locality.
- As full members of PROFALCAM, their groups will be exempted from the requirement to contribute cash to their project during the first three years of activity.
- Their business plan must contain a cost of supervision spread over the months (from the start of the work until the harvest) and paid monthly to each member of the group. The monthly pay is calculated from the total annual cost of supervision plus 50% of the annual profit forecast from the contract for the sale of their seeds.
- Their loan is repayable over two or three years. However, they remain qualified to take out new loans. However, they will need to fulfill the same conditions as adult members of PROFALCAM.
Young people and the strategy to reduce field and post-harvest losses
Apart from paying a stable and fair farm-gate price in the villages, crops with high moisture content (cassava, plantain, sweet potato) should receive the first level of processing (dehydration) in the villages in order to reduce the cost of transportation and preserve the quality of the product.
- Grouped into 5 to 10 members in a GIC or Simplified Cooperative, these young people (girls and boys) should operate in a given village. They will have to buy the raw material from growers who are members of PROFALCAM or not at contractual prices.
- We may have one or more groups of young people in a given village. However, some small settlements could join villages where there is a first-level processing unit.
- Approved PROFALCAM member groups should benefit from loans to build standard infrastructure and acquire equipment. These groups are exempted from the requirement to contribute cash to their project for the first two years of operation.
- In the event that PROFALCAM provides equipment as a subsidy to one of these groups, the equipment remains the property of PROFALCAM and this equipment could be withdrawn if it is not used within the standards required for the production of wet paste; or if the group fails in its obligations to produce the wet dough required for the production of quality flour.
- The business plan for each group should contain a cost of supervision spread over the months and paid monthly to each member of the group. The monthly pay is calculated from the total annual cost of supervision plus 50% of the forecast annual profit from the contract for the sale of their wet paste.
- Their loans are repayable for two to three years. Each group is qualified to apply for the new loans. However, they will need to fulfill the same conditions as adult members of PROFALCAM.
- The presses and graters will have a three-year lifespan. Equipment of this nature given to young people as a grant becomes their property at the end of the lifespan of said equipment.
- A special account will be opened for each group of young people to receive the rotating loan to purchase the raw material needed for the production of wet pulp. The withdrawal of money in cash from this account to pay non-members of PROFALCAM must first obtain a non-objection from the legal representative authority of PROFALCAM.
Gender and the strategy of agro-industrial plantations model (agro-industrial plantations cluster)
The agro-industrial plantation model (cluster agro-industrial plantations) is a form of agro-industry where on a single tract of land a plantation is developed with several independent business actors working together to produce mainly flour. Young people enjoy the same benefits as described in strategies 1 and 2 above. This approach is advantageous because of the following:
- It provides secure agricultural land for women and young people.
- It reduces land disputes between natives and investors from other parts of the country.
- It reduces high initial investment cost to prepare the ground by young people, women and vulnerable populations.
Young people and the “one bakery, one district” strategy
Essentially an activity for young people (girls and boys), this strategy concern young people grouped together in a simplified cooperative. Their role is to produce bread and other pastries from local flour produced in their own region and wheat.
Grouped together in a simplified cooperative, these young people all living in the borough must meet the same conditions described in strategy 2; but applicable to local flour by-products; and equipment and infrastructure for making various local flour products.
PROFALCAM’s advocacy for women
PROFALCAM carries out intense advocacy towards village chiefs and other traditional authorities in favor of women aged 18-50 living in the village and/or natives of the village living in the city and wishing to invest in one of the six strategic crops. The advocacy slogan is “One woman, one hectare of agricultural land”.