HOW TO CREATE AN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE IN CAMEROON

How to create an agricultural coorperative in Cameroon by Agro-Food FM

What is it really and what is the minimum to know to get started?

The cooperative or cooperative society is a legal form of business that is increasingly in demand in Cameroon.
Very popular in the field of rural activity (livestock and agriculture), it is also beginning to impose itself in more urban sectors of activity (real estate, finance, health, etc.).

Because of its many advantages, both legal and practical, it seems to us to this day essential that a work of highlighting be carried out on this type of innovative and suitable company for the Cameroonian and African economy still supported by the strength of the number and the rural sector.

It will therefore be a question in this work of stopping on two essential parts of the cooperative which are its composition on the one hand (I) and its creation procedure on the other hand (II). This, so that in the exploitation of this mini presentation, all interested have the essential points of reference to launch an assault on the cooperative and make the most of it.

General information on the cooperative.

The cooperative can be defined as a legal form of business based on the autonomous grouping of people associating voluntarily with the aim of satisfying their common aspirations on the economic, social, cultural level… and whose ownership, management and power are exercised collectively, democratically and cooperatively. It is governed, regardless of its form or field of activity, by the OHADA Uniform Act relating to the law of cooperative societies (AUSCOOP) adopted on December 15, 2010 in Lomé, Togo.

Financial cooperatives set up as a microfinance institution (EMF) must, however, in addition to being approved as such, obtain COBAC approval for MFIs before operating.

The cooperatives have, in accordance with the AUSCCOP, replaced the common interest groups (GIC) which no longer legally exist in the OHADA space.
All pre-existing CIGs were forced to transform themselves according to a procedure decided by the competent national authorities (Ministry of Agriculture in Cameroon) into cooperatives under penalty of sanctions.

Auscoop has also provided for two types of cooperatives, the simplified cooperative abbreviated SCOOPS and the cooperative with a board of directors abbreviated Coop-CA.

The first variant is suitable for rather light cooperatives and requires only 05 members at the start for its constitution.

The second is intended for cooperatives of larger size and structure and requires a minimum of 15 members for its creation.

The major characteristics of the cooperative are free membership, democratic management, equality between members , the search for profit, the pooling of resources, participatory functioning and the permanent training of members.

The main advantages lie in the corporate tax exemption for production cooperatives marketing their products on their own premises. The absence of a legal minimum capital at creation. The faculty of creation without recourse to the notary.

The possibility of exercising through a cooperative, a lucrative activity in all sectors of activity.

The disadvantages, on the other hand, lie in the cumbersome creation procedure, the existence of a minimum number of members necessary for creation, the increased technicality and cumbersomeness of the texts governing cooperatives (statutes and internal regulations) as well as territoriality limited (department) for carrying on the activities of a cooperative. With respect to the operating principle of a cooperative, it is based first of all on the desire of its members to be both owners and users of their entrepreneurial unit thus, they come together on the basis of a common project and pool financial, material, intellectual and human resources, etc. In order to increase their capacity for performance and their profit a close link with the common project must unite all the members of the cooperative and each member must bring direct added value to the project (expertise, land, premises, funds, etc.).

The profits at the end of the financial year are shared between members in proportion to their contributions and the losses borne according to the same principle.

Procedure for creating a cooperative.

First of all, it should be noted that in Cameroon, the competent administration for the creation of cooperatives is the MINADER (Ministry of Agriculture) via its decentralized services which are the departmental delegations and the regional service of cooperatives (SRC) attached to delagations.

Regional service.
The said services proceed with the creation of cooperatives by registering them in the register of departmental cooperatives concerned, after which they obtain taxpayer cards for their tax monitoring from the tax center of attachment where their head office is located.
It is in principle a divisional tax center (CDI).

The creation does not generate any particular legal costs except for stamp costs.

The legal creation of a cooperative takes place according to the following 03 steps:

The formalities prior to the general meeting (GM); they are compulsory and carried out by the managers of the cooperative.

They are presented in the following sequences:

• Drafting of the statutes by the cooperative or a specialist. In all cases these will be validated by the competent departments of MINADER (minimum 50 pages on average);
• Drafting of the draft minutes of the GA;
• Drafting of the letter of invitation from MINADER (addressed to the head of the regional department of cooperatives);
• Drafting of the planned attendance list (list of members expected to attend the GA);
• Submission of the requested documents to the regional service of cooperatives.

Formalities during the GA; they are conducted by the members of the delegation of the regional service of cooperatives attending the works and consist essentially of:

• Collection of the photocopy of the CNI of all the members of the Cooperative;
• Collection of the location plan of the cooperative (established by the cooperative);
• Collection of the list of members of governing bodies + their criminal records;
• Collection of the share subscription table by the members (established by the cooperative);
• Collection of the approved statutes and the minutes of the GA for the post GA formalities.

Post-GM formalities; they are carried out by the representatives of the cooperative appointed during the GA and consist of:

• Deposit of the documents collected during the GA with the regional service of cooperatives (SRC);
• Obtaining the letter authorizing the opening of a bank account of the Cooperative issued by the SRC;
• Formalities for opening the bank account;
• Drafting and stamping of the request for creation (declaration) of the Cooperative;
• Filing of the Cooperative creation file with the SRC or the competent departmental delegation of MINADER against a receipt of declaration. The creation file must include a copy of the uniform act relating to the law of cooperative societies and all the other documents of the procedure regardless of the phase are necessarily provided in 05 copies.

After a period of 03 months after the deposit of the file of creation of the cooperative with the competent services, this one is deemed registered and therefore legal.

The persons in charge can then go to the competent services in order to obtain, instead of the receipt of declaration, the act of registration in the register of cooperatives.

In the event of rejection of the creation file by the competent services, then this must be the subject of a written and reasoned act addressed to the managers or agents of the cooperative.

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