Food Sovereignty: Cameroon’s Rice Production Push

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Food Sovereignty: Cameroon’s Rice Production Push

To curb a drain on foreign exchange reserves and attain food self-sufficiency, Yaounde is deploying state funding and structural support programs to rapidly boost local rice production.

09 Sep 2026 15:58

U nder the National De velopment Strategy (SND30), the Came roon government has elevated the rice sector to a primary priority within its import-substitution drive. Ac cording to official trade reports from the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the country spent over FCFA 200 billion to import roughly 620,000-MT of rice in 2023 while trade data indicates imports averaged nearly 760,000-MT annually, leading up to 2025. Overall food import expenditure hit FCFA 971.5 billion in 2022 according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MI NADER), creating a severe trade imba lance that State pro grams now target. To reverse this trend, MINADER has set a targeted threshold to elevate domestic rice production from baseline figures toward 450,000-MT in 2026, aiming for 460,000-MT by 2027 under its medium-term economic framework. To syste matically achieve these miles tones, the State has rolled out targeted intervention frameworks including the Integrated Pro gramme for Agro pastoral and Fisheries Import-Substitution (PIISAH) and the Agricultural Production Support Programme (PARPAC). Key infrastructural milestones include securing 350,464 hec tares under the Central Plains Project and developing 9,018 hectares of hydro-agricultural perimeters for irrigated culti vation, as detailed during the April 2024 Cabinet meeting in Yaounde. Technical operations are driven through the project for the Development of Irrigated and Rainfed Rice Farming through Strengthening the Value Chain (PRODERIP-RCV). A joint MINA DER and Japan International Cooperation Agency initiative focusing on seed purification, post-harvest processing equip ment and marketing local rice. A central pillar of this effort lies in seed multiplication, and the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) comes in handy. IRAD distributes basic and improved seeds through specific ...