Cameroon banana worker inspecting crop

Cameroon overtook Côte d’Ivoire to become the leading banana producer in the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) zone in 2015. The country is now the fifth biggest producer in the world behind Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

As reported in businesscameroon.com last week, Françoise Collet, head of the European Union delegation in Cameroon revealed that the 2015 banana harvest reached 278,450 tonnes, thanks in part to EU initiatives to fund industry improvements and boost exports.

The EU has invested around US$61m in the industry and operates two long-running programmes to modernise production and support the industry.

Bananas are Cameroon’s third biggest export after crude oil and wood.