Corruption is a calamity for Cameroon's agriculture and food security -activist

Cameroonians could face serious problems producing and accessing enough food to feed themselves unless the government and its citizens take on corrupt agricultural officials, a prominent campaigner in the Central African country said.

Bernard Njonga, the head of a non-governmental organisation that filed a lawsuit last year against a group of agriculture ministry officials for misappropriating funds, said bad governance had stalled initiatives to boost local agricultural production.

"Corruption is a calamity which has torpedoed all efforts to improve livelihoods and food security in our country but we can't just sit and think it is too overwhelming to fight," said Njonga, of the Citizens Association for the Defence of Collective Interests (ACDIC) which counts 11,000 members.

An ACDIC investigation into the allocation of maize subsidies between 2006 and 2008 revealed that officials in the agriculture ministry had created fictitious farmers' groups, allocating 62 percent of the subsidies to these groups each year and leaving only 38 percent to reach genuine farmers of Cameroon's main staple.

Although the accused denied the allegations, Cameroon's anti-corruption commission (CONAC) confirmed ACDIC's findings after a separate probe.

Njonga cited preliminary investigations by a state prosecutor and the imminent start of the criminal trial against the agriculture ministry officials as proof that corruption can be tackled even in a country where it is considered as endemic.

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