According to national media in Cameroon, the European Union has agreed to hand the country's banana industry a €48m grant to help boost volumes among the country's leading producers.
State radio announced that the grant is designed to help push annual output to 500,000 tonnes, compared with 2011 levels of 250,000 tonnes and 2010's 230,000 tonnes, Reuters reported.
The report quoted EU resident Raul Mateus Paula, who noted that Cameroon had signed an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU in 2009 and was currently negotiating a full EPA.
Emmanuel Mbarga, head of the external trade development at the Ministry of Trade, confirmed that any funding would be distributed to major producing companies as Cameroon seeks to increase output to 500,000 tonnes by 2013, mainly through the opening of new banana plantations.
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