North West Region : Sharp Increase in Rice Production

According to the General Manager of the Upper Noun Development Authority, Eric Akongnui Andanfung, there has been a sharp rise in rice production in the five Divisions where the UNVDA operates namely, Ngokentunjia, Mezam, Bui, Bamboutos and Noun. Speaking in an exclusive interview with CT, the General Manager said production has moved up from 600 tons in 2017 to about 12,000 tons now out of which the UNVDA produced 1,400 tons itself this year in addition to the over one thousand tons left over from the 2,200 tons produced last year.  He said they now have a stock of 2,400 tons of rice. 
Though he regretted that their production efforts were hampered by the failure of power supply to the factory and the old nature of their machines which causes them to incur heavy losses during hauling, he however announced a bright future for rice production in the country. He disclosed that 1,000 hectares of land has been earmarked for development in Ndop within the framework of the Cameroon Rice Value Chain Project, whose 98 billion loan agreement is in the process of being signed. He said Cameroon has 15,000 hectares of arable land for rice out of which only about 3,700 hectares is exploited. Eric Akongnui said if this land can be developed and improve production techniques, the issue of rice importation can be put to rest within the next five years. ‘If we increase our production and improve our techniques to about seven or eight tons per hectare, then we will be able to have not less than 200, 000 to 300,000 tons per annum” he said adding that this is, if we use the double culture season. But it take...