Yaoundé is investing in a multi-year action plan with a global budget of 30.9 billion CFA francs, while N'Djamena is reactivating its historical agronomic potential through the operationalization of the National Wheat Specialization Center (CNS-Blé). The initiatives rely on the introduction of improved seed varieties, developed in laboratories to resist local thermal constraints.

The vulnerability of regional trade balances is reflected in the volume of incoming cereal flows. Customs statistics report a volume of 921,236 tons of wheat purchased by Cameroon on the international market, representing a foreign exchange outflow of approximately $219 million. To reverse the trend, the roadmap validated on June 24, 2026, provides for the short-term development of 4,500 hectares of arable land. The technical objective aims to generate 9,000 tons of certified seeds to achieve a target annual commercial yield of 180,000 tons of cereals in the production basins of the Far North, North, Adamawa, West, and Northwest.

On the Chadian side, the sectoral relaunch aims to fill the collapse of the national production apparatus, whose harvest has fallen to a floor level of 3,000 tons. The CNS-Blé scientific hub integrates a cross-border research network associating Nigeria and Senegal, aiming to restore the yield of the Lake Chad polders that once supplied the milling industries with 10,000 tons of flour per year. However, the economic viability of Central African projects remains dependent on heavy state subsidies to compensate for the high costs of irrigation and the importation of chemical inputs, the main challenge residing in the ability of local flour to compete with the low prices of imported wheat.


Nlend Flore

Tags: agriculture blé cameroun tchad production locale céréales économie développement agronomie afrique centrale