Palm oil production declines in Cameroon

Written by PANA

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 12:21

The production of palm oil in Cameroon, put at about 220,000 tonnes annually before now, has dropped to 100,000 tonnes in 2010 with a possibility of dropping further in the next five months, sources close to the producers told PANA Tuesday here.

Producers, who were consulting with the Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, on ways of making palm oil easily accessible and affordable to consumers, said the fall in production was responsible for the high prices of the product.

A litre of palm oil that was sold 500 CFAF last May now costs between 700 and 750 CFAF.

A spokesman for the producers, Leonard Claude Mpouma, attributed the decline in production to the lack of land for cultivation, saying that land owners were refusing to make lands available to producers.

Meanwhile, the Cameroonian government has unveiled a national programme aimed at providing lands for planting with a view to increasing annual national production by 50,000 tonnes.

In view of the short fall in production, producers now import the balance from countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

The minister later promised to consult with his colleagues to facilitate the importations of palm oil in order to bring down the price to an acceptable level.

He also promised to work towards allocating land free of charge to producers.

Apart from domestic consumption of palm oil, it is also used for the manufacture of soaps and candles in Cameroon.