Cameroon's main marketing board: history and scope of the ONCPB

Laan, H.L. van der (1987)

Research paper

The creation of the ONCPB (Office national de commercialisation des produits de base) in 1976 was a turning point in the history of government regulation of agricultural marketing in Cameroon. It went a long way in unifying and harmonizing the marketing arrangements in francophone and anglophone Cameroon. The ONCPB received legal powers to regulate and control the marketing of five export crops: cocoa, coffee, cotton, groundnuts and palm kernels. These powers do not dictate a standard pattern for ONCPB participation in marketing. Its commercial activities vary from crop to crop and between anglophone and francophone Cameroon, revealing a flexibility which seems characteristic for the Cameroonian authorities. ONCPB's collaboration with private enterprise, operating under licence, is noted for its close and vigilant supervision; relations between cooperative enterprise and the ONCPB are more relaxed but also require frequent negotiations and detailed agreement.

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• All authors: Laan, H.L. van der
• Date: 1987