Government launches project to increase rice output by 25 percent
YAOUNDE (AlertNet) - Cameroon has launched a project to boost local rice production by 25 percent in a bid to reduce dependence on imported rice and ensure food security in the country, government officials say.
Rice has become a staple food for many Cameroonians with annual demand estimated at 600,000-650,000 tonnes but the west-central African nation produces only 40 percent of the cereal.
For instance, between January and September this year the country imported 441,000 tonnes of rice, experts say.
The $25.5 million project run by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to support small scale farmers and producer organisations in four of Cameroon’s 10 regions is expected to help reduce that gap.
"Cameroon is endowed with great potential to not only meet its food demand but also to be the breadbasket in the Central African sub-region and improve the living conditions of the rural population," said Jean Kuete, Cameroon’s minister for agriculture and rural development.
"It is taking cognizance of this potential that the government intends to revive domestic food supply to meet the ever growing demand," he said at a ceremony to launch the IFAD project this week.
The project was designed in line with measures taken by the Cameroonian government to improve food security after food riots hit the country in 2008, amid skyrocketing commodity prices.
As part of the seven year scheme, IFAD would introduce improved seeds and crop varieties that produce high yields. It would train farmers on how to grow and monitor the crops and provide them with skills to reduce losses in production.
"The idea is to make more rice available in the Cameroon because it is increasingly the staple food but also to reduce food imports and thus prevent food crises like we saw in 2008," said Nadine Gbossa, the head of IFAD’s Cameroon programme.
The project also aims to develop farmers' commercial skills to ensure they take advantage of regional markets for their production.
"Given Cameroon’s agricultural potential the improved production would also serve countries like Gabon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Chad thereby addressing food security needs at a regional level," Gbossa said by phone from Yaounde.
Rice is the fastest growing source of food in Africa. The continent accounts for one-third of global rice imports as domestic rice production has not been able to keep pace with the increases in demand triggered by population growth and rapid urbanization.
The IFAD project also seeks to support the production of onions which the fund identified as a crop with huge commercial potential for Cameroonian farmers given that it is widely consumed in the central African region.
Cameroon is already supplying onions to most of its neighbours who prefer the Cameroonian variety to what is imported from Europe and Asia, Gbossa said.
"Increasing production would not only cut imports from overseas, it would also make another important part of the local diet affordable to a majority of people in Cameroon and the (central African) sub-region," she said.
(Additional reporting by George Fominyen in Dakar)
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