Farmer organisations (FOs) are key actors in agricultural development and can play an important role in achieving sustainable rural development. The Cameroon government aware of this important role played by FOs, after independence created cooperatives as alternative organizations for agricultural production and source of foreign currencies. The economic crisis of the 1980s encouraged the creation of many FOs (Common initiative groups and cooperatives) since the government could no longer handle the FOs and this led to the transfer of responsibilities to farmers. The North-West region like other parts of Cameroon since then witnessed the creation of thousands of FOs that have to play both social and economic roles for the benefit of the farmers. This research was carried out to examine the actual state of affairs of FOs in the region and the role they play in the agriculture development of the North West region of Cameroon. The research methods used included field work, field surveys through semi-structured interviews with members of FOs or actors in this sector and documentary research. The results revealed that in 2017 the number of FOs dropped from 16, 425 in 2015 to 11,108 with the number of active groups only 9.6% indicating the presence of FOs which do not provide the expected benefits to farmers.
Keywords: Agricultural Development, Farmer organizations, North-West region of Cameroon
