(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon’s Minister of Economy Alamine Ousmane Mey recently signed funding agreements worth CFA13.55 billion with seven public institutions to support farming, livestock, and fishing production this year.
Of the total, CFA9.2 billion will go to the Cameroon Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Bank (BC-PME) to finance private operators involved in products targeted by the Integrated Agropastoral and Fishery Import-Substitution Plan (PIISAH). The remaining CFA4.3 billion will be allocated to Unvda Ndop, IRAD, the Cereal Board, Sodepa, and the Viva-Logone and Viva-Bénoué projects to strengthen rice, cereal, cattle-dairy, and seed/input production.
“The signing of these agreements marks a decisive step toward achieving PIISAH’s goals,” said Minister Ousmane Mey. The plan aims to reduce Cameroon’s heavy reliance on imports. Between 2013 and 2022, the country spent an average of CFA3,000 billion per year on rice, fish, wheat, maize, and oils.
To reverse this trend, Yaoundé launched a three-year integrated plan (2024-2026) worth CFA1,500 billion to boost local production and processing. In its first year of implementation in 2024, the government mobilized CFA248.49 billion, but results were considered “mixed” by observers.
In 2025, funding will rise to CFA511.63 billion, and CFA611.4 billion in 2026. Priority sectors include rice, maize, fish, and other key crops. So far, the government has secured CFA800 billion, equal to 53% of the total planned financing.
