(Business in Cameroon) - The German Agency for International Cooperation GIZ recently issued a call for tenders to recruit a regional office that will carry out a study to identify the job opportunities existing in the cotton and textile industry in Cameroon.

According to the tender document, this project aims to identify the various job opportunities existing in the cotton production and processing segments, highlight the skills needed by employers, and develop courses to bridge the skill gap in the cotton and textile industry's labor market.

The bids are expected to reach the GIZ by June 17, 2021. As for the project, its duration is 140 days maximum, between June 24 and August 30, 2021.

The German cooperation agency explains that this study is important because, for several years now, the competitiveness of Cameroon’s cotton and textile industry is being affected by several problems. These include the rising input costs, the overvaluation of the Euro against the US dollar, and the dropping of cotton prices in international markets.

Meanwhile, the sector is full of potentials. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, cotton is the fourth most important export product in the country's foreign trade. Also, it currently provides subsistence means to nearly 27,000 farmers.

In the framework of its 2020-2030 National Development Strategy, Cameroon plans to boost its yearly cotton production to 600,000 tons by 2025 (against 310,000 tons currently). Also, the country plans to increase the volume of the national production which is processed yearly to at least 50% by 2030 and develop a national wear production industry to meet at least 50% of the demand in sports and military wear. Each of those wears must be 60% cotton, the plan outlines. 

S.A.