How registering co-ops in Central African Republic helps farmers
The Central African Republic is emerging from years of crisis, which devastated the rural economy.
As part of efforts to revive farming, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development facilitated the creation and operation of 35 cooperative societies between 2020 and 2022. They were created with the support of the ITC Promotion of Urban and Rural Entrepreneurship Programme (PAPEUR Rural).
In September 2023, registration opened for cooperative societies at the Chamber of Agriculture and Tourism, in line with the OHADA Treaty (the Treaty on the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa) . The International Trade Centre (ITC), with technical support from the Pan-African Cooperative Conference , helped establish 33 agricultural and two poultry cooperatives in rural areas of the Central African Republic.
The cooperatives are all within 200 kilometres of the capital Bangui, and 7, 455 people have already joined. On average, each cooperative has 213 members .
Partners like the International Labour Organization ran training courses on how to work within associations and cooperatives. Other trainings covered agricultural entrepreneurship and management.
Newly registered cooperatives are exploring partnerships with other organizations. The Mpoko cooperative, about 10 kilometres from Bangui, has recently formed a partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
‘We have been taken seriously since our cooperative was recognized by the State. We have new opportunities like this partnership with the FAO, which has provided us with farming tools and enabled us to sell our products easily,’ said Letromo Samedi Didier, President of the Mpoko cooperative.
