(Business in Cameroon) - In August 2021, brewing group SABC will launch the operations of Compagnie fermière du Cameroun (CFC), its subsidiary specialized in grits production. With CFC, SABC intends to produce 30,000 tons of corn grits yearly for beer production with some 60,000 tons of corn purchased from local farmers.  

For that purpose, SABC has built an XAF18 billion ultramodern processing plant in Mbankomo, not far from Yaounde, SABC’s CEO Emmanuel de Tailly informs.

According to the executive, coupled with the 10,000 tons of grits SABC purchase yearly from local Maïscam, the corn grit produced by CFC will fully meet SABC’s yearly needs and also boost the volume of local products present in its beers. “Before my arrival, the percentage of local products in SABC's production was 35%. Nowadays, it is close to 60% but my ambition is to increase it to 75% in the long run,” Emmanuel de Tailly explains.

Also, CFC will contribute to the development of a corn value chain leading to increased revenues for farmers. As per SABC’s projections, for the production of 30,000 tons of grits yearly, 30,000 to 40,000 farmers will need to develop 12,000 hectares of corn farms. These farmers will be grouped into cooperatives to facilitate support from the CFC, through the Agriculture Investment and Market Development project PIDMA, Emmanuel de Tailly stresses.

Brice R. Mbodiam