This renowned
Cameroonian intellectual and native of Buea, who has extensive experience in
agricultural development, peace and security issues, began his career in
Cameroon, where he worked as an agricultural extension officer for the Ministry
of Agriculture, helping farmers to improve yields and to diversify and market
their crops.
In 1980, Dr Ngongi was attached to Cameroon
Embassy in Rome. He joined the World Food Programme in 1984, becoming its Deputy
Executive Director in 1994, a position he held until his appointment as UN
Undersecretary-General, Special Representative and Head of the UN Peacekeeping
Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001.
Since his
retirement from the UN in 2003, Dr Ngongi has undertaken several high-level
missions, including a study on food reserve systems in Africa.
Born in 1945 in
Buea, Cameroon, Dr. Ngongi obtained his PhD in Agronomy from Cornell in 1976.
Before joining
AGRA, with headquarters in Kenya, Dr. Ngondi was Member of the National
Anti-Corruption Commission (Cameroon).
Dr. Ngongi sat
down for an exclusive interview with Recorder Editor Christopher Ambe in Buea
last November 19, on varied issues
Read
on!
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| Dr.Amos Namanga Ngongi |
You retired from the
United Nations and came back home (Cameroon) to rest.Then, you were contracted
again by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and you have retired again.
Are you not tired?
I will have plenty of time in the future to get tired. For
now I am not tired. It is pleasure to meet with you again, after returning to
Cameroon.
How was your stay
with AGRA? We learned you left them at a time they organization needed you
most?
First of all I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to
be the first President of AGRA. There was an Interim President when I joined. It
was really a good way to come back to agriculture. Let me say that it was a
position that was focused on advocacy, policy dialogue and getting countries to
do what they need to do, than working directly in farms planting crops. It was
a great privilege because it opened my eyes to different opportunities and new ways
of doing things-especially trying to recognize agriculture as a private
sector–driven business. Farmers are self-employed, they are individual
operators; they are private sector and should be recognized as such. What is really
needed is how to organize the rest of the private sector including the
financial sector to support agriculture; the markets sector to support farmers
in trade; processors to process agricultural product s to add value. Really, it
was a re-introduction to agriculture, having done different things in between
my agricultural training and getting into AGRA.
You are back home with a wealth of experience. How are you
going to use such experience to improve on things in Cameroon?
First, it is at the individual level. I have a farm where I
am trying to implant at the community level some of the things I learned. Secondly,
since I had the opportunity to interact with decision makers and those who
develop agricultural policies in many African countries, I will try to interact
with policy makers in Cameroon to make a difference. A week ago there was a
meeting in Yaounde of the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) at
which the Minister Delegate of Agriculture delivered an opening address and the
Cameroon delegation presented a progress report on the rice sector. CARD is one
of AGRA’s partnership programmmes that I co-started. As President of AGRA I
co-chaired this coalition with the Senior Vice-president of JICA, Mr. Oshima. Together with other partners, we
built it to a level that it is now working in 23 African Countries including
Cameroon to help them have strategies that will turn agriculture into a
profitable venture. And rice is one of the critical crops in Africa’s quest for
a green revolution. A lot of research has been done on rice so there is the
capacity to double or triple rice yields per hectare and increase production
significantly. CARD’s target is to contribute to the doubling of rice production
in Africa from 14 to 28 million metric tons between 2008 and 2018. African
countries are spending over $10 billion to import some 15 t0 20 million tons of
rice a year. If African countries can double or triple rice production that will
save a lot of money for investment and create employment opportunities for
millions of Africans along the agriculture value chain: production, processing,
markets and the financial sector.
Many people are of
the opinion that agriculture is the way out of our economic predicament. As an
agronomist, do you agree with this?
Well, it is not just from the agronomic point of view. Take
it from the economic point of view. If you have 70 % of your population
involved in agriculture and they are producing only some 25-30% of the Gross
Domestic Product of the country, it shows that there is a lot of room for
improvement of efficiency and income-generation within the agriculture sector.
If you increase the value of agricultural production by only 10% in a year,
that will translate a growth of 2.5-3.0% increase in the GDP of the country and
improve the lives of 70% of the population. That is not too difficult to do considering
the low state of productivity in Africa’s Agriculture. Agriculture is thus a good
sector for job creation. Firstly, it needs to be developed to fully occupy those
who are producing today because most farmers are largely under-employed,
working tiny pieces of land and producing approximately one metric ton of grain
per hectare compared to three metric tons in other developing countries. Secondly,
this sector can contribute immensely to the creation of new employment, especially
for young people. We have to rethink agriculture to make it a lot more attractive
to youths. The hand hoe and cutlass should be replaced by improved tools and
equipment. Third, processing of our basic food crops has to be given priority. We
should be having cassava flour, yam flour and cocoyam flour not just tubers.
The next stage should be composite flours including legumes to enhance nutritional
quality. This will add value and create
jobs. There is great scope to generate employment in the service industry- to
service agriculture: seeds; fertilizers;
credit; storage; transport. Agriculture presents great opportunities for
Africa’s and Cameroon’s economic development. And it costs much less to develop
jobs in agriculture compared to jobs in industry. So if we invest properly in agriculture, we
create employment, add value, increase income s and have a much more buoyant
economy
And, do you think the
Cameroon Government is doing enough to boost agriculture?
Well, I do think the speeches and policies are in the right direction.
Everywhere you go you hear that agriculture is the backbone and engine for
growth of our economy. That is repeated over and over. You also see some
programmes distributing agricultural inputs to community groups, mostly young people
and women. I would have to look a little bit more into the programmes that are
on the ground to see if they match the speeches. I also have to link with NGOs
and CIGs that are involved in agriculture and contribute to their programmes
and create the required impact. One of the critical areas for agriculture is
having a reliable seed supply system. This is still very much lacking in the country.
There are a lot of attempts to produce seeds but we don’t really have viable
seed- producing companies in the country.
The second point is how to organize logistics to deliver
fertilizers to farmers at prices that are really competitive world-wide. I am
buying fertilizers at 800 to 1000 dollars per metric ton. That is twice the
cost of a farmer in Asia. It is difficult to be competitive if you are having
such high costs for inputs. Here the Government can have more supportive
policies and programmes.
The third point is how to tackle the post-harvest storage
problems. We lose 25 to 30 % of the grains produced in the country through
spoilage. For, cassava it is more than 50%, for yam probably 40%. If famers could
access improved storage facilities that are rain proof, reduce adverse
temperatures and insect-infestation, the
country will be able to save quite a bit of its production. This is an area
that needs to be tackled urgently.
I would say in the long term, we have to really address the
issues of land-land rights and land use. If a farmer is not sure of being able
to use the same piece of land next year, why would she invest in improving it
this year? Most farmers have shaky
tenancy agreements to use land. They don’t own the land. And talking of land,
women who are the large majority of our food crop farmers have even shakier
rights to use land. If the largest group of our food producers doesn’t have stable
arrangements for food production year after year, why would they make the investments
required to boost productivity of the land?
Mr. Paul Biya on
November 6, 2012 celebrated his 30 years as President of Cameroon. Cameroon is
said to be a democracy. Would you say his stay in power for 30 years is good
for our democracy?
I won’t pass judgment on whether it is good or not for our
democracy. You have to judge based on what has taken place from 1982 up to
2012. We have a republican constitution and a constitution regulates the
political life of the country. If the length of stay in office is not curtailed
by a constitution, then it cannot be said that something is wrong with somebody
being in office for 20, 30 or 40 years. The length of a presidential mandate is
enshrined in the constitution, and as far as I know there is no limitation. I
would say, by my own judgement, the person Paul Biya, who has been able to hold
our country from 1982 to 2012 with steady hands and whose current term in
office expires in 2018, has been able to build levels of acceptance, confidence
and trust in the fabric of society that has permitted him to go on from year to
year and from election to election as the President of Cameroon. So, I won’t
question the length of the period, but whether the stay is in line with the
constitution of the country.
Many people are of
the opinion that Mr. Biya has over done it; that he should step down for
someone else. If you were in position to advise him now, what would you tell
him?
In terms of seeking political office, that is a personal decision.
He has six years in front of him to make that decision-whether he will continue
or not. As a population we should use the democratic instruments in our
possession to decide on who becomes President. The ultimate democratic
instrument is an election. People should vote for candidates of their choice. In
the last Presidential election there were 23 candidates. It is not the shortage
of candidates that keeps President Biya in power! Those
who want President Biya to leave office have not yet been able to produce a
candidate who can compete effectively and defeat him at the polls. They have advocated for more transparent
elections. As you know there is a biometric registration process now underway.
A very advanced electoral registration process that is not available in most
developed countries. Cameroonians should register massively and use it to
determine who should lead our nation at all levels rather than being stuck on
the length of tenure of office of the President.
Corruption and
embezzlement of public funds seem to be a way of life in Camerroon.What would
you say is the problem, conscious that the government is battling with these
vices without much success?
I would say corruption is embedded in every society. But there
is a great need for checks and other control measures. Who does not want to
have the best house in the World? Who does not want to have a good car? Who does not want to live a luxurious life?
But we should have structures that say “You, Mr.Ambe, you
can live in the best house in the world, but it should be built with money, which you have earned justly and not
with the money that you have taken from other people unjustly, money that would
have improved their lives” . I would say such structures are not yet fully
functional in our country. If they were, the ostentatious display of wealth
would be curtailed. If salaries of public servants including staff of state
owned companies were published and the population sees people living at levels
that would require them to have saved every franc they would have worked for 50
to 100 years then there would be public pressure to take action. The Public should also be empowered to institute class action
suits for public servants to explain the sources of their wealth.
I think we should go to the next step-the constitution.
There is an article in the constitution which requires people to declare their
assets. There is no reason why it should not be implemented, in my view. If you are appointed to a high political or administrative office
and you don’t want to declare your assets, you decline the appointment. If you must take the office then please declare
your assets. It is a personal decision to be made. You want it you declare, if don’t
you decline. Nobody can be forced to take a high office that requires declaration
of assets. I think that will reduce the wanton amassement of wealth illegally.e
I am not saying that people should not be wealthy. Every
body should aspire to be wealthy, but it should be done in line with the law
and norms of morality.
You were a member of
the National Anti Corruption Commission (better known by its French acronym as
CONAC) and you later resigned. Why did you leave the Commission?
The appointment came to me as a surprise. It was, of course,
a great honor but I was in advanced negotiations to join AGRA. AGRA gave me an opportunity
to serve at continental level to be able to bring a change to our continent’s
food security situation. I believe that what we have done at AGRA in the past
five years has really contributed to a wonderful change in African agriculture
and economy, which will also contribute to Cameroon’s agriculture and economy
if the innovative policies and strategies that were developed in AGRA are
implemented. So having made a commitment to an institution (AGRA) it was
improper for me not to honor it. I did participate in the initial phase of CONAC‘s
work in the first six months and then left to take up the AGRA appointment. It was
not because I felt that it was not a valuable thing to do. But at every point
one has to make some choices. That was the choice I made at that time. I
believe that CONAC is doing useful work in fighting corruption. What it is
doing to reduce corruption is a valuable contribution to our economic and
political growth. We can say that the whole administration is taking corruption
seriously. It is far from being perfect but clearly Cameroon is no longer the
champion of corruption in the world! Progress is being made and I hope the
progress can be accelerated and sustained with all the structures that are
being put in place now- including the recovery of stolen assets by special
tribunals.
Now that you are back
to the country, if you are invited to rejoin CONAC, won’t you accept?
{Laughs} I don’t
participate in speculation. Here now in Cameroon, there is plenty of work to
do. There are many ways one can contribute to the country. I should say that
about a month ago I did visit CONAC to see my former colleagues and some of the
new members to encourage them in the work they are doing. I was impressed to
find a mature institution busy at work.
Sometime ago you had
some political ambition-to become the mayor of Buea.What has become that
ambition?
Political ambitions are part of humanity, they come and go
and follow the political cycles of each country. We have not yet reached the
stage in our political cycle when decisions are made on seeking office. I
belong to the CPDM and there is a CPDM process for designating their candidates
for various positions. We are far from that process now. You can ask me that
question when we get to that point in months ahead.
There are thousands of university graduates in the job market. They
cannot find or create jobs. What advice do you have for them?
First of all, we should address the educational system. The
education system itself is almost a copy of the traditional, classical European
education. It is fine for Europe, where a lot of things have been done already.
We are in a country that requires the production of skilled
personnel-at low, intermediate and high levels. We should strive to have a more
technology-driven education to produce the skilled operators and managers we
need, at the certificate level, lower diploma level, higher diploma level and
university level who are able to go out to the world economy to identify
existing opportunities and establish themselves in businesses; create jobs for
themselves and employ some of their classmates.
Universities and higher institutions
should be able to create innovations parks where young people can go in to
develop and test their ideas. For 20 ideas, maybe only two will be
successful. But those two can probably change the face of our economy.
We have to find other ways of challenging our young in
education systems. I see that UIDB has Higher National Diploma programmes that
aim to produce professionals. That is good. Our
educational system should begin to introduce skills rather than just academic
pursuit and theory. I can not down play academic qualifications. I have
them myself. But we should be able to have more practical knowledge and
management skills included in the process of acquiring academic qualifications
for a developing country.
For the students themselves they have to proactively find
ways after graduation to use the knowledge they have acquired to earn an income.
The general tendency is to apply for a government job but such jobs are few.
Despite the recent recruitment of the 25000 many thousands are on the streets.
The institution of the Youth Voluntary Service is good. Young people will gain
useful skills from enterprises they will be serving. This programme can
contribute to turning the tide on youth employment.
Youths do not only need skills they
also need to have access to capital. It is necessary to have
institutions that can put up risk capital to encourage youths try out their
skills. It is well known that about 85% of new businesses fail within the first
few years. That is why risk capital is needed not just for youths but for other
economic operators. The Government can assist by setting aside some risk
capital that encourages young people, in particular, to try their hands in business-knowing very
well that many of the businesses will fail in one or two years. But the 15 % or
so that succeed probably will propel the economy to new dimensions and create employment.
( First Published in The Recorder Newspaper,Cameroon,of November 22,2012)
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