“A suicide mission”, “a failed life”, “a broken future”… In 2022, when Ahmed Ngouh Mounchikpou decided to return to settle in Malantouen, his native village located in western Cameroon, his family and friends try to dissuade him with these words. In vain. The 27-year-old young man, who holds a degree in physics obtained in 2021 from the University of Yaoundé I, the country’s capital, is “convinced of not being in error”. He also has a clear plan: work as a supervisor in a 50-hectare palm grove, save “the majority” of his monthly salary and finally start his own business.
A year later, the bet seems to have paid off. Ahmed bought five hectares of land which he is currently preparing for the next agricultural season. From 2024, the former student will plant plantains and macabo, a tuber consumed in the region. In the long term, Ahmed plans to transform the place into a palm grove.
“The earth does not lie. She is never wrong, he confides by telephone. The association One graduate, one field allowed me to see that the rural world offers many opportunities and that we can succeed there. In 2020, in the midst of confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ahmed came across the publications of this non-governmental organization on Facebook.
Her slogan, “the earth, a vast field of opportunities”, seduces him and pushes him to contact her. “They had projects including the launch of an experimental watermelon field on the outskirts of Yaoundé. I offered my services. Classes were at a standstill and having grown up in the village until I obtained my baccalaureate, I had some knowledge,” he relates.
The very high unemployment rate of young graduates
In the field, Ahmed discovers new agricultural techniques and learns from failures. Later, awareness raising and training in agricultural entrepreneurship, processing techniques and even financial education were decisive for the young man who dreamed of becoming an electronics engineer. He made the decision to stop his studies after his degree and devote himself to agriculture. Against the advice of his entire family who wanted to see him “work in an air-conditioned office in the city”.
Ahmed is not the only one. Since its creation in 2018 and its approval two years later, the association One graduate, one field, which targets young graduates in particular, claims to have trained more than 1,000 young people in eight of the ten regions of Cameroon for opportunities in the agropastoral world. “We have several testimonies from young people who have told us that our initiatives and actions have pushed them to take an interest in agriculture,” rejoices Alain Georges Lietbouo, 34, founder of the organization who adds that 30% of trained young people are active in the agropastoral field.
This journalist, specialized in agriculture and now a student in agricultural business management in France, created the association after making three observations. First, the country’s enormous potential in arable land (7.2 million hectares) and its agroecological characteristics. Then, the very high unemployment rate of young graduates. “For roughly 1,000 bachelor’s graduates, less than 7% have a decent job,” he laments. And, finally, the high importation of consumer products such as rice, palm oil and fish.
However, according to figures from the African Development Bank from 2020, the primary sector accounts for almost 60% of jobs in Cameroon. “However, the economic and social contribution of this sector in view of its strong potential remains below expectations in terms of poverty reduction and food security,” notes the financial institution in a report published in June 2022.
Difficulties in accessing financing
“We import everything. However, agroecological characteristics allow us to produce everything,” maintains Alain Georges Lietbouo who, with his team, mobilizes funds or partners with other national and international organizations to train and support young people in cities or villages.
But how do you convince young graduates whose parents have bet their savings on them to lift them out of poverty? When Adjara Nzikouo, 30 years old and a law graduate, decides to return to her village to grow corn, ginger, and peanuts, her parents can’t believe it. Treated as “crazy”, mocked by everyone, no one supported her during this stage which she described as “the worst period of [her] life”. “My parents wanted me to return to the city to continue my studies” in order to become a lawyer, remembers the young woman who held on. Thanks to the One Graduate One Field training course, she learned processing techniques for cassava, tomatoes and fruits. The financial management aspect helps it diversify its activities.
Today, his sales amount to 200,000 CFA francs (300 euros) per month. If her determination got the better of her family’s reluctance, the young woman admits that she was unable to convince other graduate friends to take over the fields. “Everyone prefers to stay in the city. All my licensed comrades are motorcycle taxi drivers. The lucky ones drive taxis. They prefer to suffer in the city,” saddens Ahmed Ngouh Mounchikpou.
For his part, Alain Georges Lietbouo and his team are teeming with new ideas. They launched a village fair, set up a field and a pilot school in the west of Cameroon where young people can have a first experience before setting out on their own. But one of the main difficulties they encounter remains access to funding, both for the association and for the young graduates.