On the 10th June 2016 Sapisacam ( Integrated Agricultural Development Priority Actions Company in Cameroon-Société d’actions prioritaires intégrées de développement agricole au Cameroun), and the agro-industrial Spanish company, Tomsa Destil, signed a partnership agreement in Yaoundé for the construction of a plantain banana processing unit.
The project aims to set up plantations that will annually produce 500,000 tons of plantain bananas. Meanwhile, the factory will produce 200,000 tons of crisps, 300,000 tons of plantain flour and 1.2 billion litres of ethanol. The project is also planning to produce 200 MW of electricity and 120,000 m3 of biogas by using biomass.
Sapidacam has already supported a plantain banana production site in Mpagne, East Cameroon. The project was launched in 2015 (1.8 million FCfa investment) and plans to create plantations that stretch over 2,700 hectares and develop 20km of roads.
Alongside insufficient production to meet consumer demand, plantain bananas in Cameroon are only valued up to 30% according to experts, the public and producers are unaware of the banana’s by-products. To make the most of the benefits of the plantain sector, the Cameroon government launched a reconversion programme for the sector in 2005 (Prebap), but 11 years later the programme has not really been put to use.