BU/MBENGKAS RICE COOPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED AND LAIMBWE’S ECONOMY (CAMEROON), 1973-2014

This work examines the Bu/Mbengkas Rice Cooperative Society Limited (BMRCS Ltd) in live sustainability of Bu and Mbengkas, Laimbwe-speaking people of the Menchum and Boyo Divisions of the Northwest Region of Cameroon respectively. We have employed mainly the qualitative research method in data collection and analyses. Published papers, theses, minutes of meetings, and archival material including reports, speeches, and letters have also been gleaned and analysed. Some interviews were conducted with actors and participants. The need to revive Cameroon’s economy led President Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon in the 1960s and 1970s to introduce agricultural reforms through the Five Years Development Plans and the “Green Revolution.” Through this, Laimbwe benefited from the establishment of a rice cooperative in the 1970s through the agency of the Wum Area Development Authority (WADA). The cooperative society led to socio-economic changes especially in Bu but not Mbengkas. A lot more would have been achieved but for mismanagement, greed, arrogance, domination, exclusion, and marginalisation. The result was the collapse of a laudable initiative in 2014.