• Government cuts 2026 PIISAH budget to 12.5 billion CFA francs
• Reduced funding likely to constrain SME Bank financing for fisheries
• Import-substitution programme aims to replace food imports with local output

Cameroon plans to allocate 12.5 billion CFA francs ($22.4 million) in 2026 to the Integrated Agropastoral and Fisheries Import-Substitution Plan (PIISAH), down about 2 billion CFA francs from 2025.

In the current fiscal year, PIISAH was allocated 13.5 billion CFA francs.

Budget documents show that the reduction is likely to constrain financing for small and medium-sized enterprises in the agropastoral and fisheries sectors through the state-owned SME Bank. Of the 2026 allocation, 6.5 billion CFA francs is earmarked to support fisheries value-chain operators via the PIISAH window of the SME Bank, a drop of around 4 billion CFA francs from 2025.

Last year, the SME Bank received 9.2 billion CFA francs to support producers participating in the import-substitution programme. The decline in resources allocated to the PIISAH window is therefore expected to reduce financing capacity for affected operators, particularly in the fishing industry.

PIISAH is a three-year programme running from 2024 to 2026. According to the government, it aims to reduce the trade deficit by replacing imported food products with abundant, high-quality local production led by the private sector.

The programme, estimated at 500 billion CFA francs, is to be financed gradually through domestic public resources and external funding. It is structured around three pillars, including land tenure security for 400,000 hectares in the Central Plain, the development of 160,000 hectares of agricultural and fisheries areas, and improved access to production zones.

PIISAH also focuses on boosting food production, processing and marketing, as well as expanding access to training, research outputs and financing for sector participants.

Ludovic Amara, With Business in Cameroon