Cameroon joined the CICC on July 10, 2019, with the signing of the Constitutive Convention of the Institution by Mr. Gabriel MBAIROBE, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the country. Cameroon has held the presidency of the Institution since December 2021, through Mr. Gabriel MBAIROBE.

Currently, Mr. Gabriel MBAIROBE, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Mr. Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Minister of Commerce, are sitting on the Council of Ministers for Cameroon, in accordance with the Convention establishing the Institution.

Economic, social and environmental profile

Cameroon is a country in Central Africa with an area of ​​475,440 km² for a percentage of agricultural land of 43%. The population is estimated in 2021 at 27,053,629 inhabitants for a population growth of 2.5%. The overall and per capita GDP are respectively $69.76 billion and $2,578.8 in 2021, according to the World Bank. In Cameroon the climate is tropical, semi-arid in the north, suitable for cashew production, and humid and rainy in the rest of the country. Of the five agroecological zones of Cameroon, two are favorable to cashew cultivation, namely the Sudano-Sahelian zone and the high savannah zone, with rainfall between 400 and 1,500 mm per year for an average temperature of around 28 degrees Celsius.

Cashew sector in brief

Cashew is mainly produced in the Sudano-Sahelian zones and in the high savannah and particularly in the regions of Yagoua, Kousseri, Maroua, Kaélé and Garoua. The sector has been selected among the agricultural sectors to be promoted through the National Agricultural Investment Plan (PNIA) of Cameroon in its component relating to the development of plant, animal, fisheries and forestry production sectors and the improvement of food and nutritional security. In 2023, the areas covered by cashew plantations in Cameroon are estimated at around 15,000 hectares for an estimated production of 7,500 tonnes, without taking into account the share of production that escapes to neighboring countries and is difficult to quantify. According to the Technical Center of the Communal Forest of Cameroon, with the state of the orchards, the nut yield is estimated at 500 kg/ha with producers having areas varying between 0.25 ha and 10 ha. There are 3 processing units and they are mainly artisanal for a volume of processed products of around 4,000 tonnes per year, with almonds or derived products intended for local consumption.

Sector organization

In Cameroon, there is no regulatory or governance authority for the cashew sector. The latter is mainly supported on the one hand by the ministry in charge of agriculture for production aspects and on the other hand by the ministry in charge of trade and industry for processing and marketing issues, even if for these two entities, interventions remain timid and small-scale. The overall level of organization of the actors is very low. However, like all agricultural sectors, the cashew sector is subdivided into three main links: the production link, including upstream activities such as research, seeds and nurseries, the raw nut marketing link and the cashew nut processing link. The actors in these different links remain poorly structured with little synergy between them. Cameroon has 03 organizations dealing with the marketing of almonds, apple juice, apple wine and another for the marketing of cashew nuts.

Cashew Promotion Incentives

The cashew sector in Cameroon being in its infancy, through the ministry in charge of agriculture, the country has adopted a strategy for the development of cashew value chains for the period from 2019 to 2023 in order to support production, processing and marketing. Similarly, with the European Union, the technical and socio-economic feasibility study for the introduction of cashew tree cultivation by decentralized local authorities in the dry savannah zone of Cameroon was carried out in 2020 in order to mobilize resources to support stakeholders along the speculation value chains. The Government’s direct measures for stakeholders concern the acquisition and distribution to nurserymen of 7.5 tonnes of seeds introduced from outside, which made it possible to make 2,060,000 seeds available to producers and the creation of 34.6 hectares of plantations in five production basins. The National Forestry Agency (ANAFOR) contributes to the implementation of the national forest plantation development program through its technical support.

Cashew Promotion Projects and Programs

Institutions and persons representing the CICC

Cameroon is represented at the CICC by:

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) with Ms. Madi OUMAROU-MISTE acting as Focal Point. Email: oumaroumiste@gmail.com .
• The Ministry of Commerce with Mr. Narcisse Ghislain OLINGA acting as Focal Point. Email: olinganarcisse@yahoo.fr .

Geographical location of cashew production