• Ferdi estimates that insecurity has cut Cameroon’s agricultural value added by $1 billion per year since 2016.

• Cameroon Development Corporation halved banana exports and lost CFA38.7 billion between 2019 and 2021.

• Ferdi reports that violence has forced farmers across West and Central Africa to abandon 30–50% of cultivated land.

Cameroon’s agricultural sector, which contributes more than 20% of GDP, continues to face severe disruptions caused by persistent insecurity. The country, which serves as the economic engine of the CEMAC region, has seen its farm output weakened by conflicts in the Anglophone regions and in the north.

The Foundation for International Development Studies and Research (Ferdi) said in an October report that insecurity has reduced agricultural value added by CFA580 billion (US$1 billion) per year over the past eight years.

Cameroon’s security forces have fought separatist armed groups in the North-West and South-West regions since 2016. The conflict has triggered heavy humanitarian and economic losses and has displaced thousands of people internally.

Ferdi said the violence has restricted investment and disrupted operations for public and private agribusinesses across the conflict zone.

Business in Cameroun reported that the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) exported 23,416 tonnes of bananas between January and July 2025, a level that is half the volume exported during the same period in 2015.

CDC, the country’s second-largest employer after the public administration, has absorbed major operational losses. “Between 2019 and 2021, it recorded CFA38.7 billion in losses and saw its workforce fall from 22,000 to about 15,000 workers,” Business in Cameroun said, citing the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public Enterprises.

Ferdi said Cameroon’s experience reflects a wider regional trend affecting West and Central Africa. The think tank said “30% to 50% of cultivated land has been lost or abandoned due to violence, making agricultural activity highly uncertain and often impossible” in regions of the Sahel and Nigeria.

Ferdi added that “insecurity also blocks access to markets, reduces producers’ mobility and encourages rural exodus, weakening the entire local and regional economic fabric.”

This article was initially published in French by Espoir Olodo

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum