The Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises presided over the ceremony to present the results of four studies conducted by his ministerial team yesterday in Yaoundé.

Four studies conducted under the coordination of the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (Minpmeesa) were presented yesterday, September 6 in Yaoundé. This was during a ceremony attended by some members of the government and the president of the Cameroon Employers Association. These studies focused on the structuring of SMEs in the agro-industry sector, the structuring of the cotton-textile-leather sectors, the implementation of the support project for the integration of SMEs in the wood processing sector in local value chains and the implementation of the "Train my generation" plan.

Basically, the studies focused on the expansion of competitive sectors that could promote economic growth and create jobs in Cameroon. "The overall objective is to guide specific actions designed to achieve the import-substitution and export promotion duo for the development of targeted sectors," explains Minpmeesa.

The study on the agro-industry sector found that it is necessary to modernize and structure the production apparatus, develop and consolidate infrastructure, boost trade capacities and develop partnerships, but also develop and strengthen support institutions of the private sector. "A profiling of high value-added agro-industrial products in which Cameroon has a comparative advantage was carried out to facilitate the identification of priority actions to be implemented by the government to supply local and sub-regional markets with competitive Cameroonian products," the report stated.

Priority sectors are cocoa, coffee, palm oil, sugar, rice, corn, banana, fish, milk and meat. Four operational areas have been identified for the cotton-textile sector. These are the structuring and organization of cotton production in Cameroon, the strengthening of the cotton milling system, the strengthening of the system for processing cotton fiber into fabric and the industrialization of textile manufacturing and the professionalization of its marketing.

For the leather and footwear industry, the recommendations were to improve the removal of hides, organize and structure the collection and storage of hides, strengthen the processing of the hides to transform them into high quality leather and industrialize the manufacture of leather-based items. The cost of the project is 161,399 CFA francs over a period of 3 years.

In addition, two major initiatives should boost the wood sector: the development of forest plantations and the reinforcement of wood processing industries. This explains the need for the Train My Generation program which is a governmental tool for the capacity building and technical certification of workers in the informal sector, since adequate professional training is a prerequisite to meet these goals.

Source : Cameroon Tribune No. 12678