(Business in Cameroon) - On December 7, 2017, Ernest Gwaboubou, the Cameroon’s minister of industry, inaugurated a wine bottling plant in Douala. The project which cost CFA12 billion was developed by société Boissons, vins et spiritueux (BVS).

The unit which is the result of the 2013 private investment incentive act, granting investors 5 to 10 years tax exonerations, will produce about 10 million liters of wines and liquor, every year, for the central African market.

According to our sources, BVS, under its development scheme, plans to start producing fruit juice but also develop viticulture in Cameroon in order to have the raw material needed to produce wine locally.

Actually, viticulture is not much practiced in Cameroon so far.

However, “Viticulture en région tropicale pour la production de raisin de table : aspects et possibilités", a document published in the 70’s by CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development,  revealed that before Cameroon’s independence, private vineyards have existed in localities such as Babadjou (in the West), Nanga Eboko, Ntui (in the Central region) and Mutengene (in the South West).

Referring to Cameroon’s climate, the document suggests that some hybrid vine varieties from South America can be grown around Ngaoundéré, and in Bamenda. However, the results will not be impressive, CIRAD’s researchers explained in the document.

Brice R. Mbodiam