The Operation Green Revolution 1973-1986: Sustaining Cameroon’s Planned Development Precept

Abstract

This paper studies the Green Revolution and its input to Cameroon’s planned development agenda from 1973 to 1986. After attaining statehood, Cameroon like most African states, espoused strategies, aimed at enhancing its socio-economic developments. All these emerged from its foremost planned development policy, introduced in 1960. This policy initially laid emphasis on industrialisation, which was too costly and inert to spur socio-economic growth. Agriculture was thus reconsidered as the basis for real development in the country and the green revolution ideology was adopted to embolden this ambitious quest. Launched in 1973, the revolution did swiftly and hugely enhance Cameroon’s socio-economic development, but nevertheless faded due to obvious deficiencies and the setting in of the economic crunch in 1986. This paper argues that despite its merely ideological bearing and hasty end, the Green Revolution remained a very vital spur to Cameroon’s planned development programme and propounds perspectives for more enhancing inputs. It is built on primary and secondary data and analysed qualitatively.