International cooperation, Cia signs agreement with Cameroon farmers

Cia President Dino Scanavino met in Rome on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Confederation’s national headquarters with the president and general manager of the Cameroonian cooperative NWCA (North West Cooperative Association) to sign a cooperation agreement for agricultural development in Cameroon. The signing of the understanding is the result of the two previous partnership meetings held in Rome in 2015.

National President Dino Scanavino meets in Rome with the leadership of the NWCA, a Cameroonian cooperative that associates more than 35,000 small farmers who produce mainly coffee and cocoa: “With this agreement we are launching collaboration and training initiatives in projects for sustainable development. Objective: to build a stable economic perspective for the people of the African country.”

To promote collaboration and training initiatives in agricultural and rural development cooperation projects in Cameroon, aimed at the dissemination of low environmental impact cultivation practices, production differentiation and especially technical support to local farming families. This is the goal of the agreement signed today in Rome at the Cia national headquarters between Confederazione Agricoltori President Dino Scanavino and the president and director of the Cameroonian Small Farmers’ Cooperative NWCA, Helen Nchangnwi and Timothy Waindim, respectively.

The NWCA (North West Cooperative Association) has more than 35 thousand small farmers who produce mainly coffee (Arabica and Robusta blend) and cocoa (mostly organic) on land between 1,200 and 2,200 meters above sea level. The cooperative operates in a large northwestern area of Cameroon.

With Scanavino, present at the signing of the agreement were Minister Plenipotentiary Roberto Colaminè (DG Cooperation MAE Head of the Development Aid Office for Sub-Saharan Africa), the head of the International Office of Cia Cristina Chirico, Professor Esoh Elamè of the University of Padua, and the director of Ases (the Confederation’s NGO of reference) Claudio Guccinelli.

“This is an agreement that on the one hand serves to strengthen agricultural relations between Italy and Cameroon,” explained the Cia president, “and on the other wants to work to build a stable economic perspective for the people of the Global South. And no sector can do this like agriculture, all the more so if it is an agriculture focused on sustainable development by valuing biodiversity.”