CAMEROON – Cameroonian agro-pastoral and industrial company of Ngaoussai in Adamaoua region, has signed a XAF9 billion (US$16.2m) investment agreement with Investment Promotion Agency (API) for the construction of a dairy plant.

The plant will be utilized for the processing of milk, yoghurt, cheese and biogas.

Upon completion of the project, it is set to create about 220 jobs, reports Business in Cameroon.

Going by the country’s 2013 law on private investment which was revised in 2017, the structure will benefit from tax and customs incentives for five to ten years.

Adamawa is one of the largest cattle-rearing regions in Cameroon but has no infrastructure for value adding dairy products.

Two of such plants have been setup in Ngaoundéré and Meiganga region by the government but production has never started. 

According to the Ministry of Livestock, Cameroon’s milk deficit averages 170,000 tons per year since national production is usually close to 125,000 tons against demand of estimated at 297,000 tons.

Experts explain that this deficit is due to the low output of the cow species used by producers, and the isolation of the main production areas.

In the general livestock industry of the country, Cameroon’s North West region’s development authority, Mideno launched a XAF750m (US$1.25m) livestock and fisheries industry development project earlier in the year.

Mideno, is the North West Development Authority acting on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cameroon as the supervisor of development policy and providing a budgetary, financial and technical mechanism for development projects.

The project is financed by the government of Cameroon and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) aimed at granting microcredits to the farmers.

Launching the scheme in Bamenda, the General Manager of the North West Development Authority, (MIDENO) Anye Cletus Matoya said the credit scheme is government’s instrument for poverty alleviation in the North West region.

The credits are be delivered in kind and cash to reduce delinquency in repayment and build confidence.

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