• Cameroon’s fertilizer imports fell 12.2% in value in 2024
• Government backs local production with subsidies, PPPs, and new plants
• New Douala facility targets 150,000-ton capacity to cut import reliance

Cameroon’s fertilizer import bill fell in 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), as the government steps up efforts to boost local production and cut dependence on imports.

The country imported 225,334 tons of fertilizer in 2024, a 1.3% decline from 228,326 tons in 2023. In monetary terms, the drop was sharper — down 12.2% to 62.27 billion CFA francs ($110 millions) from 70.9 billion CFA francs a year earlier.

Fertilizer, a key input for crops such as cotton, maize, rice, and cocoa, is vital for farm productivity and incomes. To reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, authorities are promoting domestic production through subsidies, public-private partnerships, and investment in local plants. These initiatives could, over the medium term, help offset the effects of global price swings.

As part of this strategy, the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (Minmidt) has invited bids for a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study to assess the technical and economic feasibility of a national fertilizer plant.

Minmidt noted in its tender that “Cameroon has the land and strategic plans to develop agriculture, but the lack of domestic fertilizer and pesticide production has left the country heavily reliant on imports.”

The proposed factory — estimated at 500 billion CFA francs — is featured in the government’s 2026-2028 Medium-Term Economic and Budgetary Framework and will be developed as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), with Minmidt as the contracting authority.

The private sector is also expanding capacity. On May 7, 2025, Agriculture Minister Gabriel Mbaïrobé inaugurated a unit of Hydrochem Cameroun, a subsidiary of the Noutchogouin Jean Samuel (NJS) group, in Bonabéri, Douala. The new facility has an annual capacity of 120,000 tons, with potential to expand to 150,000 tons, and is expected to help halve Cameroon’s annual imports, currently near 300,000 tons.

Amina Malloum