The government of Cameroon has launched the launched the 2022 agricultural season in the southern region under favorable weather conditions.
Minister of Agriculture, Gabriel Mbairobe performed the launch ceremony and said that according to Directorate of Meteorology of the Ministry of Transport’s weather report, the rainfall is now enough to launch the agricultural campaign in the entire southern part of the country, which includes the coastal areas and the highlands.
This optimistic forecast also applies to the northern part of Cameroon, where the dry season, which is not conducive to optimum crop yields, is generally longer. “The forecast also indicates that the high savannah and Sudano-Sahelian zones will be sufficiently watered by the first week of April in Adamaoua, the third week in the North, and the third week of May in the Far North,”.
Agriculture in Cameroon
Although the growth of the petroleum industry since 1980 has resulted in a gradual decline in the importance of agriculture, forestry, and fishing to the gross domestic product (GDP), the sector continues to play a notable role in the country’s economy.
The main subsistence crops include plantains, beans, potatoes, yams, cassava (manioc), corn (maize), and oil palm in the south and peanuts (groundnuts), millet, and cassava in the north. Cameroon ranks among the world’s largest producers of cocoa beans, which are grown mainly in the south. Robusta coffee, which accounts for the majority of the country’s coffee crop, is grown both in the southern warm and humid parts of the country and in the western high plateau, where arabica coffee is also grown.
Yields have been adversely affected by the increasing age of the plantations and delay in modernizing. Cotton was introduced in 1952; it is grown largely in the grasslands by private farmers. Systematic diversification of agricultural production into such crops as palm oil, rubber, and sugar has taken place.
