Cameroon top banana producer in Africa-Caribbean-Pacific region
Cameroon has overtaken Côte d’Ivoire to become the largest producer of bananas in Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) zone, with a record production of 278,450 tonnes in 2015, the Head of the European Union delegation in Cameroon, Françoise Collet has said.
Cameroon that was already the main African supplier of banana to the European Union, becomes the 5th producer of this fruit globally, behind Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
Cameroon owes this performance, as highlighted by Françoise Collet, in part to initiatives funded by the European Union, to improve the banana production in Cameroon, in terms of quality and quantity, and to ensure exports in the best conditions.
Indeed, for some years now and to this end, the EU has been implementing in Cameroon two programmes funded with approximately $62 million. These are the Programme to Support the Customs Modernization Plan (PAPMOD) and the Banana Support Measures Programme (MAB).
Banana is the third export product in Cameroon, after crude oil and wood logs or sawn wood followed by cocoa and cotton.
