From research by Carbap (African research centre for cooking bananas) it appears that Cameroon produces almost 2 million tons of cooking bananas annually. Of this, 60% is consumed in the country itself. The remaining 40% is exported to neighbouring countries Gabon and Guinea, where prices are of far greater interest.
Carbap is afraid, however, that during the coming years the production of cooking bananas will decrease considerably. Urban development, resulting in less space all the time for the cultivation of crops is the most important factor. But also the climate change plays a role together with the fact, that the varieties of cooking bananas grown now, are insufficiently competitive.
In order to improve the production of cooking bananas, which are processed into about 200 products, the government devised a program 10 years ago, to convert the banana sector. The implementation of this met with a large number of structural difficulties.
