Cameroon, West Africa

October 18, 2006

I didn't plan it this way. My priority would have been to be on the farm harvesting corn...but, NO, I was invited to speak at a Development Conference in Cameroon, West Africa. I would prefer to be driving the combine, but the chance to see first hand a part ofthe world that isn't in the news every night and interact with their people -- well, of course, I went.

Here is my report.

Cameroon has a population of 16 million people, more or less. The country is tropical. 70% of Africans depend upon agriculture. Small farmers and I mean really small. Most are just subsistence farmers producing little more than enough to feed their family. Half of the African population subsists on less than $1 per day.

The business and government officials that we talked to are eager to learn and want to prosper, but the challenges are great.

I rode by car from Yaounde to Douala (a 3-hour drive). In that distance of about 200 miles, I did not see one tractor. The farm work consisted oflittle more than over-sized garden plots tended entirely by hand. Along the road, men were digging by hand a long ditch next to the road stretching for miles. In the two cities I mentioned -population almost 1 million each -- street vendors filled the streets and sidewalks. Everything is for sale from pineapple to fish, to furniture, to peanuts, to shoes, and live chickens. The cities are teaming with people selling, selling, selling -- not in a regular store.

Contrast all ofthat with the hotel I stayed in, a very modern Hilton. It would equal a Hilton in Chicago. Cost about as much, also.

In talking with the U.S. Embassy officials, they said the country is making progress but is still held back by corruption, government red tape, and inadequate property rights. Farmers don't have title to the land.

Ofcourse, the developed countries can help, but African countries must also help themselves.

Such poverty is hard to visualize until you look it in the eye. Sure is good to be back home.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington.