The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) has launched a study that will clearly bring out statistics on the sector's contribution to the Cameroon economy. The sector contributes largely to the economy and there are many actors involved comprising the informal sector whose activities are not documented. There is the need to know exactly what the sector contributes in wood related products, forest reserve, non timber products as well as the employment opportunities it generates. Carrying out a study on the economic and social importance of the forestry and wildlife sector, according to Minister Ngole Philip Ngwese, will unveil the statistics to rely on, concerning the sector's contribution to economic growth.
The study to be carried out by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) will first compare the forestry sector to the agricultural sector and will equally bring out the percentage of the sectors contribution in crude products, fiscal revenues and its contribution to export. Given that CIFOR is a renowned research institute in forestry sector and an internationally recognised research institute, the minister said, they await a professional result to know the real weight of the sector in terms of development, resources and employment and how the sector can best contribute to the national economy.
Since the general objective is to know the economic and social importance of the sector in Cameroon's economy, the Regional Director of CIFOR, Richard Eba'a Atyi said they will structure the studies according to the main products derived from the sector. CIFOR will also use available information from MINFOF and related ministries like Water and Energy as well as the private sector to evaluate employment created given that even people trading in wild vegetables like Eru need to be counted. The results will be ready at the end of the first quarter of 2013 according to CIFOR's Regional Director.
