Field Reports

NORTH WEST PIG FARMERS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY
NOWEPFA -COOP BOD LTD

2021 FIRST QUARTERLY ACTIVITY REPORT

Written and submitted by -
Atomba Tegwi Titus
Project Coordinator/CEO
NOWEPFA COOP- BOD - Cameroon
P O Box 729 - Bamenda
http//nowepifac.com
mobilelivestock1995@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION:

This report was written by the cooperative project coordinator who was based in south Africa then, precisely in Groot Aub Namibia with information passed on to him from Cameroon by his close collaborators, members of the cooperative management board of directors. It should be noted that since 2016 when the sociopolitical crisis in Cameroon started, it has not been easy holding meetings with farmers talk less of organizing regular training workshops with them to refresh the minds, moreover many of them have internally displaced to difficult areas where by they cannot rear pig again.
The consequences therefore of this social instability could be noticed in the sharp drop in pig production statistics within the most affected village communities and also a drop in the standard of living of the pig farmers themselves.

As the crisis evolved over the years since 2016, it became difficult for some of the cooperative partners abroad to come to Cameroon to evaluate the impact of their annual and quarterly supports/donations on the ground so some of these partners became very uncertain whether their intended goals will be met and so suspended their relief support fund to the cooperative within the crisis period but the Japanese friend /partner continued to support the cooperative regardless of the war situation.
He did that prayerfully, hoping that God by his grace will see that the funds reach the beneficiaries as you will see in this report that it finally happened.

COORDINATING TEAM IN CAMEROON:

Mr Mbaku Walters; Bamenda community mobiliser of cooperative members and main reporter of all activities to the project coordinator in Namibia with videos and photos
Berlinda Chabo; Cooperative head office secretary and treasurer who was responsible for receiving the funds from the donor abroad and disbursing the money for use following instructions from the project coordinator in Namibia after consultating with Mr. Nju Charles and Mr Mbaku Walters.
Nju Charles; this was the general overseer of all activities on the ground but he does that in consultation with Mr Mbaku Walters and the secretary.
Mbah Fabrice; Mobile livestock piggery farm manager and the person responsible for all feed ingredient purchases. He is the one who gave out one female piglet from Mobile Livestock Farm for the passing on the gift exercise to kick start.
Limen Helen; This is one of the youngest female pig farmer that the cooperative has and is the focal point for communication in the village community of Bawock, excellently replacing Wato Samuel who does not own an android phone. She is the one who received and distributed the feed in Bawock as well as send all the photos, video and audio messages we got for reporting.
Limen Elisabeth; She is the cooperative vice president and the general overseer of cooperative members and activities in Bawock.

ACTIVITIES PRIOR TO THE FEED DISTRIBUTION EXERCISE:

Before finally accepting that the feeds be bought, a long period of break was observed due to the fact that feed prices were on the rise. After waiting for price decrease for a while to no avail, they had to proceed with the purchases for fear of anticipated further price increase.
All the feed ingredients we purchased transported and stocked at the cooperative hall from where they were composed and bagged 50kg each and then transported. 10bags sent to Bawock and the rest 6 bags left in the cooperative hall for the charity group members. The dates of distribution in the two different communities was agreed upon by the cooperative chairman Nju Charles and the assistance coordinator, Mr Mbaku Walters of Charity farming group and communicated to the project coordinator in Namibia.

BAWOCK DISTRIBUTION - Friday 12th February 2021:

Meeting time in Bawock was scheduled to be at 10AM by the cooperative vice president madame Elisabeth limen. Mbah Fabrice loaded the feed from Bamenda and communicated departure time to the Bawock coordinator, Miss Limen Helen. The feed was received in Bawock by the few members who turned out.
When the feed was received, the Bawock vice president tuned a song of praises, thanking the donor for the support and asking God to continuously protect and bless the donor so that he can continue to support them. That was then shared amongst the beneficiaries and all of them departed to their various homes.

Off-loading feed in Bawock / Beneficiaries with their feed / Meeting held before feed arrival.

BAMENDA HEAD OFFICE -WITH CHARITY MIXED FARMING GROUP:

The event in Bamenda took place on Tuesday 16th February 2021 at about 12.30 pm when the feed beneficiaries all arrived. A short agenda was presented by the cooperative assistant coordinator in the absence of the Chairman Nju Charles who was involved in a funeral service out of the North west region.
The program started with registration of members, followed by an opening prayers, then was a word of welcome by the coordinator on behalf of the cooperative board of directors. A recorded audio from the cooperative general coordinator in Namibia - South Africa explaining the source of the feed and the need for members to constantly stay clued to the cooperative was played to the listening of all.
Charity group members also tuned a song of praises to grace the occasion and to send signals of joy to the donor for what they considered very timely and quite encouraging especially during time of crisis as the current sociopolitical crisis affecting the two English speaking regions of Cameroon.

Charity group members / Meeting at main office / late comers still got their feed.

MESSAGE IN THE ACTION /GESTURE:

Some beneficiaries were wearing T-shirts on which were written, "You are blessed to be a blessing" meaning that as the feed donation will go a long way to help beneficiaries, they should on their part be of assistance to others when ever and where ever necessary.
Another message in the gift of a female piglet is that the efforts of the Dutch girl Djouke who started supporting the poor farmers within the pig cooperative with a gift of a female piglet and asking beneficiaries to "pass on the gift- POG" should continue for as long as the cooperative continue to exist.
In this way the dream and spirit of the Dutch girl will be kept alive irrespective of the ongoing crisis which is a distraction that has come to derail our development focus and initiatives geared towards alleviating poverty.

FINACIAL ANALYSIS:

OBSERVATION/COMMENTS:

I have observed that it is not too difficult to work from a distance to ensure that thinks go the way they have to go with the advent of information technology. My absence from the country rather has helped to strengthen and sharpen the leadership skills of people one never expected could take certain responsibilities.
In order words my continuous presence on the ground to lead was not giving others the opportunity to test their leadership skills, sometimes staying away even though in this case was provoked by circumstance is also good as it gives room for others to take responsibilities and show up their talents and be identified for future tasks sharing.

All the beneficiaries have express happiness over their gift of feed as well as the gift of female piglet from Mobile Livestock piggery farm. It should be noted that Mobile Livestock piggery has in past been supported by the same Japanese friends in the construction of a bio-security fence round the piggery.
The fence project which not completed was suspended in order to show solidarity to pig farmers as they were all financially stressed up due to the ongoing sociopolitical crisis in Cameroon and the survival of the pig cooperative was threatened as many were now unable to feed their animals.

All members of the cooperative have through this recent activity ask for a hand of fellowship to all supporters of the cooperative, both the old and new to help them survive the hardship brought to them by the sociopolitical crisis on-going in Cameroon which has rendered them unable to sustain the feeding of their animals on which their lively hoods depend.