(Business in Cameroon) - In 2016 livestock farmers in Adamaoua, Cameroon’s breading hub, paid a global ransom of CFA1 billion to have their relatives freed by kidnappers.

The figure was disclosed by Moussa Yaya, the regional delegate of the ministry of agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry during a recent crisis meeting on the threat affecting the breeding sector in this part of the country.

As a matter of fact, kidnappers scour rural areas in Adamaoua, targeting mainly major breeders and kidnaping their relatives only to release them if the ransom they demand is paid.

Often, the victims comply without informing the special unit of Cameroon defense forces deployed in this part of the country to combat organized crime. They pay by selling their herds at cheap prices.

So, during the meeting mentioned earlier, Kildadi Taguiéké Boukar, governor of Adamaoua, advised the citizens that instead of paying the ransoms, a choice that just makes the kidnappers hungrier, they must collaborate with the defense forces.

Brice R. Mbodiam