The interesting thing about cooperative societies in Cameroon is that the excruciating shocks of economic crises did not quite penetrate its system.

It is perhaps for this reason that its members celebrated the 19^th edition of the World Cooperative Day Saturday, July 06 with vigour and confidence. The signs that the sector is faring well clear as confirmed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the government institution empowered for their creation.

The cooperative is more functional and well structured and this state of affairs is surely a veritable inspiration that has pushed government to decide to transform many Common Initiative Groups into Cooperatives. And so, it is projected that 12,500 CIGs will be turned into cooperatives as a matter of obligation. The concern of the government in boosting the activities of cooperatives is understood. This sector alone provides over 100 million jobs 20 percent more than international organisations. Regulated by the Law of August, 1992, the cooperative has so far resisted the test of time. Its peculiarity is in the fact that it is an instrument for poverty alleviation.

The cooperative society is known to have significantly assisted the rural population in several of their development endeavours. Even though, the law opens up to all sectors of life, the general belief has been that a cooperative is the affair of actors in the economic sector and notably agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture in his press briefing yesterday seemed to have debunked this assertion. In effect, all activities can be managed through the cooperative system. This is the new perspective.

That said, it is important to understand that the Ministry of Agriculture is simply the umbrella institution as concerns the creation of cooperatives. Once created, the various ministries under whose control the cooperative’s activities fall take full supervision. A health cooperative for instance is under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health but its creation is authorised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.  That, in essence, is the new dispensation of cooperative societies in Cameroon and which hopes to further boost the activity in this sector.