Oil palm producers in the agro-industry and merchants that sell its derivatives crude palm oil now boasts of an annual turnover of 190 billion francs Cfa. This was revealed by the Secretary of State to the Cameroonian Minister of industry and Mines, Fuh Calistus Gentry, at the end of a workshop that has just ended.
This statistics does not cover the production deficit experienced by the entire palm oil sector. All production including volumes imported to satisfy domestic demand, make an average of 16 000 tonnes per year.
Indeed, Cameroon which is the world's 10th largest producer of palm oil and 3rd African producer behind Nigeria (940 000 tonnes) and Côte d'Ivoire (417 000 tonnes), produces 322,000 tons of oil palm by year (figures FAO 2012), for a request that exceeds the 350 000 tonnes.
This gap Mr. Calistus Gentry attempts to explain,refers to the 'difficulty in accessing land, low mechanization of production, the low yields per hectare (due to the limited use of improved seed varieties), the low rate of technology transfer, the high cost of energy among others.'
Efforts are being made to improve the project to boost productivity and the competitiveness of the palm oil sector (APROCOM-PH), implemented in Cameroon since 2010, with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development (Organization UNIDO).
