About The Cooperative Benethea



Origins of Benethea


Benethea originates from the given names of two Women of Valour; Benedicta Neng Mukala Young (of blessed memory) and Dorothea Anbainbue. Therefore, Bene at the begining from Benedicta and ‚Thea at the end from Dorothea.

Benedicta Neng Mukala Young was a life force and a strong breed, a Senior Mid Wife Emeritus by profession and the blood that coursed in her veins drove her to venture into the uncharted territories of women empowerment, of social activism and political engagement. Through her uncommon courage and temerity she embraced her faith, confronted even the demon in asserting the right and contributions of women to be recognised and valued throughout Boyo Division in the North West Region of Cameroon and beyond.

She defined indeed the Boyo woman in many ways and ignored her own physical challenge in mastering her destiny and steering her personal, professional and social life to find and fulfill her purpose. Her many awards and distinctions speak of her abundant achievements in various areas of human endeavour.

She was a Senior Mid Wife Emeritus by profession.




Dorothea Anbainbue from Weissenthurm, Germany is Innovator and financier of this project and an Architect by profession.

As a descendant of an industrious agriculture family in Muenster Germany during the 20th century, she is committed not only to ensuring a successful project but in realising an interesting cross cultural and global socio-economic experience .


The cooperative


Benethea Organic Farming Cooperative at Eleh (BOFCOE) commonly refered to as Benethea is an autonomous association of local farmers in the North West Region of Cameroon united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled business.


BOFCOE expects to have a significant opportunity to affect not only North West Region of Cameroon’s food industry, but also to improve the livelihoods of the local community as a whole through the application of sustainable practices in an effort to secure food availability and operate more efficiently.


Benethea would be working alongside many others in the sector to professionalize and intensify the agricultural practices that are the foundations of a well run, high-yield and profitable cocoa farm. With an agenda in creating sustainable businesses, this Cooperative aims at ensuring the future of cocoa farming while increasing incomes and securing livelihoods of the local community.


As a local cooperative, Benethea would dedicate its activities to a shared future with shared benefits by promoting the sustainability of agroforestry techniques through intensive community engagement in quality cocoa farming as the major cash crop and also strengthen community development.


Benethea would also implement, manage and participate in economic, social and environmental stewardship programs in the village.


Benethea would empower the local community by training farmers, enhancing education, investing in families, and improving community health and welfare.



To achieve these goals;

  • Benethea would rely on the lessons learned from programs like those in other parts of Cameroon and beyond. This is going to intensify and foster innovation in sustainable agriculture i.e. Knowledge transfer from experts to the local community and enable effective collaboration between them and experts and other farmers, governments and NGOs.

  • Building up collaborative activities with the Government, Non-governmental especially agricultural related organizations.

  • Working with international donors for technical as well as material support.

  • Supporting and applying demand-led research that improves crop yield and quality.

  • Support training and technical awareness that improves the well-being of the cooperative and the local community as well.


The Location of BOFCOE


Eleh in Mbueni is a small village on the outskirt of the Njinikom Sub-Division in Boyo Division of the North West Region and about 20Km off the paved Bambui-Fundong road from the Kiikfini junction and it is accesible with the construction of an earth road. This small village of Mbueni is characterized by well drained soils with a micro-climate suitable for the cultivation of a variety of crops.

To be precise, the area is made up of acidic soils with a pH greater than 5.5 and most often dark in colour. The farm is situated on an altitude of, latitude, and longitude. It has an average temperature of and annual precipitation.


The Structure of the Cooperative


Benethea's core principle is to be more responsive to the needs of community with members having a direct say in how the co-operative operates.

The Board of Directors is responsible for governing the co-op, setting its direction and hiring of personnels or Managers. It is accountable to the membership, and monthly reports from members. Managers are accountable to the Board, and reports to the Directors and also responsible for the cooperation operations.

Major Challenges


Poor road conditions

Proximity to the area is characterised by the lack of easy access to efficient transportation system to the area. It is rather unfortunate that rural transportation especially to Eleh area is in serious problems though the existing earthed road to Mbueni is manageable.

It should be noted that the transport operating costs are high because of poor road conditions and this is often reflected in the passenger fares.

Therefore the need to establish a substantial scope for improving the efficiency of transport operations to the area is eminent. Else unnecessary loss due to delay in movements by the farmers and researchers as well as the products to/from the farm to the market centers will greatly impact the cooperative activities. In an effort to mitigate these challenges, the provision of 4Wheeled drive cars is our priority.




Lack of basic infrastructure

The lack of basic infrastructure especially in the education sector is a critical issue because it goes beyond affecting farmer behavior from conduct to labor practices and would negatively impact the goals of the Cooperative. Existing dilapidating schools can be seen from the picture below.

Benethea is also aware of other challenges in terms of productivity, poor communication infrastructure hindering easy access to farming supplies, limited access to credits, farm to market logistics, pest and diseases, health risks such as maleria and HIV/AIDS.





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Our solutions at BOFCOE


Community engagement to forster a sustainable cocoa farming system that would benefit the local community.

Empowering the local community with agricultural innovative techniques that would result into a strong and prosperous society.

Promoting sustainable farming system that maintains and increases biodiversity and crop diversification.


Sustainability at BOFCOE


Sustainable agriculture has the overall objective of preserving the environmental resources and favours the use of renewable inputs.

Since soil fertility will degrade with time, Benethea promotes agroforestry techniques in order to sustain a diversity of shade trees, food crops and cocoa to encourage productive. Benethea will also implement agricultural practices that would prevent soil loss by erosion.

In addition, composting and the application of waste from poultry and piggery, both projects to be integrated by 2018 can only boost productivity.

Hosting of a fixed-dome biogas plant (in the near future) to treat pig/chicken manure together with agrowaste to generate energy and create a bio-fertilizer with a high fertilising effect as compared to mineral/chemical fertiliser.

Water from the running rivers marking the natural boundaries of the said area would be use for irrigation during the dry season.

The biodiversity of the area would be preserved by maintaining the natural forest in the area that is also going to play an important role in shading the cocoa plants.

In order to build a long-term sustainability Support in Eleh, our attention would be focused but not limited to:


  • Providing world-class research and education facilities and services
  • Integrate animal husbandary
  • Maintaining an enduring and adaptable conservation institution
  • Employing world-class information management systems for conservation
  • Developing and applying innovative methods for environmental monitoring and protection
  • Building strategic partnerships and alliances for conservation
  • Certifications


Research and Development


BOFCOE is located at Eleh, Mbueni on the outskirt of the Njinikom Sub-Division in Boyo Division of the North West Region and about 20Km off the paved Bambui-Fundong road from the Kiikfini junction. It is accesible with the construction of an earth road.

Eleh is characterized by well drained soils with a micro-climate suitable for the cultivation of a variety of crops making it an important biological corridor for sustainable agriculture.

The tropical zone is characterized by acidic soils with a pH greater than 5.5 and most often dark in colour. The farm is situated on an altitude of, latitude, and longitude. It has an average temperature of and annual precipitation.

Benethea’s core 47 hectare property contains a virgin forest, a range of soil types, freshwater streams and riparian areas. The area is also embedded within a broad network of diverse land uses i.e. active and abandoned smaller scale plantations growing palm trees and cocoa, natural forests and reforestation plots and subsistence farms offering an excellent opportunity for sustainable agriculture Research.

We are happy to assist researchers who wish to conduct projects across a range of ecosystems or land uses.

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