Douala: Agri-Food Technical Centre laboratory boosting competitivity of local production.

Inner view of CTA-CAM laboratory in Bali

The Board Chair of the Agri-Food Technical Centre known in its French acronym as CTA-CAM, Kemleu Tchabgou Jacquis, says the institution’s laboratory for microbiological analysis is at the fore of ensuring the competitiveness of agro-industrial produces and or certifying imported goods fit for consumption.



He made the declaration during a press conference at the headquarters of the specialised agency which has been in existence since 2016, in Bali, Douala I Subdivision, Littoral Region, Tuesday January 14.

According to Kemleu, the mission of CTA-CAM is “to improve competitiveness of our economy”. He said the laboratory is an instrument with a public service mission to “work to see how to make evaluation and bring local producers to respect standards, norms and quality”.

Kemleu went on to add that: “Ever since we embarked on this mission, we can see that we have many factories who are conforming to standards both on import and export. This is important to the economy of our country and the environment”.

CTA-CAM Board Chair, Kemleu Tchabgou Jacquis, explaining mission to the press

 

 

In addition to a laboratory for microbiological analyses and physicochemical analyses, he said CTA-CAM offers a range of training in hygiene and manufacturing practices, evaluation and improvement of technological processes and product quality, while ensuring normative, technological and commercial monitoring.

The centre, it should be noted, was created at a time when the economic situation in Central Africa was gloomy, with trade balances in deficit due to the low export rate and the embryonic processing rate of local products.

Cameroon then signed the Economic Partnership Agreements, EPA, which enshrined the dismantling of tariff and customs barriers, as well as the existence of a free trade market between the parties. 

The agreement is credited to have led to the birth of strategic tool for monitoring of local production, called CTA-CAM. Its promoters said the agri-food centre is identified in the Strategy Document for Growth and Employment DSCE, and in the Cameroon Industrialization Plan, PDI, as a driver of economics growth. 

However, its works have seemingly gone oblivion in the course of years. This, they said, explains why the press conference ended with a guided tour at the state-of-the-art laboratory. 

While on site, media professionals were presented a technical unit equipped with cutting-edge equipment fitting to give CTA-CAM the leading position of agro laboratory in Central Africa and in extension, provide technical support to national companies engaged in the race to supply African markets, within the framework of the free trade areas of AfCFTA.

 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3340 of Thursday January 16, 2025

 

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