To boost productivity, quality, market access: Rice value chain project, AfricaRice sign landmark agreement.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, MINADER, Bambot Grace Annih, presided the signing on behalf of Minister Gabriel Mbairobe.

The representatives of the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development, IRAD, amongst others attended the event.

The agreement, it was said, aims to enhance the ability of the RVCDP stakeholders and partners to deliver high quality rice seeds, improve value addition and effective deployment of appropriate technologies to boost rice productivity, quality and market access in Cameroon.

The agreement, it was revealed, is focused on four main pillars; strengthening the national rice seed system, enhancing rice processing and value addition, promoting local fabrication of agricultural equipment and cross-cutting activities.    

MINADER scribe, Bambot Grace Annih, said the signing was “historic” and “marked a decisive milestone towards rice self-sufficiency, economic growth, and structural transformation of our agricultural sector”. 

Bambot emphasised that the government, under the leadership of the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, has made the modernisation of agricultural value chains a priority.

This, she added, was aimed at ensuring food security, increasing revenue of management, and reducing dependence on food imports. She said the gap between the national demand and local production continues to pose economic challenges and food security.

The official noted that the government resolved to address this challenge with the creation of the RVCDP, but insisted that they needed technical support from partners to reach their target.

She said this framework allows “Cameroon to draw directly upon the technological advancement and practical expertise of AfricaRice, adapting proven solutions directly to our local agricultural ecosystem”. 

While commending the expertise of AfricaRice, the MINADER scribe also lauded the delegation for “your commitment to support the agricultural vision of Cameroon”.

She also tasked the National Coordinator of the RVCDP and the team to “oversee the implementation of this agreement with utmost diligence, efficiency, and transparency”. 

Bambot added that every activity should directly benefit local farmers, artisans and processors in the field.

Enter RVCDP, AfricaRice

The RVCDP National Coordinator, Muluh Gregory Nguh, expressed gratitude to AfricaRice and the IsDB for their support.

Muluh described AfricaRice as the “the best partner” to achieve their goal of ensuring rice sufficiency, economic growth and improving household income in the country.

The Director General of AfricaRice, Dr Baboucarr Mannehon, on his part, said the RVCDP is an “ambitious programme” and “extremely Valuable”. 

He revealed that rice self-sufficiency is a very important objective of almost all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This, he added, is because rice consumption is far more rising than all the efforts that governments are putting in place.

He said they are working towards getting to the position where importation becomes a thing of the past. He, however, bemoaned the fact that the gap is wide and called for the need to reflect on importation to ensure food security in the country.

Dr Baboucarr also hailed the visionary leadership of President Paul Biya and the government for investment in agriculture, especially the rice sector.

The AfricaRice boss said they will provide the best performing technologies when it comes to rice production, processing and marketing. He said their target is to attain rice self-sufficiency, but high-quality rice also in Cameroon. 

Farmers, he added, and other actors along the rice value chain will get access to transformative technologies and eventually be able to increase the production and productivity of rice and also for local rice to be competitive in the market.

He stressed that the partnership is not only to increase production and productivity. He said they intend to train farmers to make certain they have the skills that are required to allow them to have very good production in their fields. AfricaRice said it is also training technicians, artisans and schooling them on business-minded techniques.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3910 of Tuesday September 15, 2026