Cameroon
Country information
GenebankNo genebank affiliated to COGENT |
ContactInstitute of Agricultural Research for Development |
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Cameroon Kribi Tall (CKT)
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Cameroon is a country of central western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon’s coastline lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. ngfngsdf asdfvsdanvfd f
Agriculture was the main source of growth and foreign exchange until 1978 when oil production replaced it as the cornerstone of growth for the formal economy. Agricultural development and productivity declined from neglect during the oil boom years of the early 1980s. Agriculture was the principal occupation of 56% of the economically active population in 2003, although only about 15.4% of the land was arable. The most important cash crops are cocoa, coffee, cotton, bananas, rubber, palm oil and kernels, and peanuts. The main food crops are plantain, cassava, corn, millet, and sugarcane. Palm oil production has shown signs of greater vigour, but the product is not marketed internationally. Cameroon bananas are sold internationally, and the sector was reorganized and privatized in 1987. Similarly, rubber output has grown in spite of Asian competition. Cameroon is now among the world’s largest cocoa producers.
Although Cameroon is not a country member of COGENT, coconut varieties from Cameroon are conserved and used to produce coconut hybrids in COGENT member countries such as Benin (Sanoussi 2005) and Côte d’Ivoire (Bourdeix et al. 2005). Research in Agriculture is conducted in Cameroon by IRAD (Institute of Agricultural Research for Development), the University of Yaoundé and various international institutions such as CARBAP (Centre africain de recherche sur bananiers et plantains), PRASAC (Pôle régional de recherche appliquée au développement des savanes d’Afrique centrale) and IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture).
No research is currently undertaken on the Coconut palm in Cameroon, although the lethal yellowing disease of the coconut palm remains active in the southern coastal region (Dollet et al. 1977).
More info: 
Conserved coconut germplasm from Cameroon (2.0MB); Part 2 (1.9MB)
