(Business in Cameroon) - On July 28, 2015 in Yaoundé, the Cameroonian Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development, Essimi Menyé, officially launched the Fruit Tree Cultivation Development Support Programme. The project needs 178.5 billion FCFA in financing, a portion of which has been provided by the FAO in the framework of the pilot phase, while the government will raise most of the required amount.

According to its initiators, the Fruit Tree Cultivation Development Support Programme aims to increase the number of orchards in production zones situated mainly in the Centre (Lekie, Mbam and Inoubou departments), Adamaoua (Vina and Mayo Danay departments) de Extreme-North (the Diamaré department) and North (Bénoué and Mayo Louti department) regions.

The cooperatives, joint initiative groups (GICS in French), and industrial producers, which will all start putting the orchards in place, will then receive multiple forms of support to create processing plants. The project’s promoters indicate that the plan is to make Cameroon a juice exporter by 2025.