Cameroon’s ANOR Introduces New Standards to Bolster Import-Substitution Strategy 2024
In a significant move to strengthen its import-substitution strategy, Cameroon’s Standards and Quality Agency (ANOR) has introduced five new standards aimed at enhancing the quality and competitiveness of local flours. This initiative is part of a broader effort by the government to reduce dependency on imported goods and foster a robust, self-sufficient economy.
The introduction of these standards is a response to the Prime Minister’s call for increased local production of consumer goods. By setting clear quality benchmarks, ANOR aims to ensure that locally produced flours meet both national and international standards, thereby encouraging local consumption and paving the way for export opportunities.
The new standards cover a range of criteria, including the nutritional content, packaging, and labelling of flour products. This is expected to not only improve the quality of products available to consumers in Cameroon but also to provide a framework for local producers to enhance their production processes and product offerings.
The government’s import-substitution policy, officially launched in 2021, targets key sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, with a focus on products like rice, maize, fish, milk, and palm oil. The policy aims to replace imports with increased local production, thus retaining more capital within the country and creating jobs.
Private sector stakeholders have welcomed the new standards, expressing optimism that they will address some of the challenges faced in land acquisition and financing, which are crucial for scaling up production. The Cameroon Investment Forum 2024 also highlighted the need for improved access to markets and suitable financing mechanisms to support the agriculture sector, which is vital for the success of the import-substitution policy.
As Cameroon continues to implement measures to promote “Made in Cameroon” products, the new standards by ANOR represent a strategic step towards achieving economic independence and sustainability. The move is expected to inspire confidence among local producers and investors, signalling the government’s commitment to supporting homegrown industries and reducing the nation’s reliance on imports.
Since August 2, the Cameroon Agency for Standards and Quality (Anor) has enriched the portfolio of Cameroonian standards for agri-food products. These are 5 new standards on local flours that have been validated by the Technical Committee No. 48 of Anor, in charge of developing standards in the field of food technologies and products. In detail, these standards concern bread flour (flour whose cereals contain enough gluten to make bread dough) including bread-making composite flour, bread-making cassava flour and bread-making pearl millet flour. Plantain flour and sweet potato flour have also been standardized.
According to the Agency, the needs for these new standards were expressed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Minader) and the development work financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). Thus, the adoption of these standards follows an assessment of the behaviour of the milling sector and observations of stakeholders on the draft standards. These mainly aim at the development of new value chains and promote the marketing of products based on local raw materials representing an alternative to the wheat shortages faced by players in the bakery sector.
The import-substitution plan is underway
These new texts adopted by Anor follow the dynamics of the actions to be implemented within the framework of the implementation of the Integrated Import-Substitution Plan 2024-2026 (Piisah) for Cameroon. Indeed, the Piisah aims to promote and develop sectors relating to each flour that can be substituted for wheat flour and should help resolve the problem of deficit and delays in the delivery of imported wheat, as well as curb imports [i.e. import expenditure of 178.3 billion CFA francs for 887,400 tonnes of imported wheat in 2023].
After the implementation of these standards, the Government plans to bring into force in 2025 a measure aimed at promoting the use of local flours in bakery preparations. More specifically, it is planned to develop a regulatory text setting the incorporation of 15% of these flours in bakery, pastry and biscuit products from structures established on Cameroonian territory. In addition to this, Cameroon aims to build three plantain flour processing units in three regions of the country (South, East and North-West) as well as local bread flour production and processing units at a cost of approximately 4.1 billion CFA francs. Local production of approximately 195,750 tonnes of cassava flour and 24,525 tonnes of potato flour is expected compared to 2,856 tonnes of wheat flour between 2023-2025.
However, promoting local flours on the mass distribution market requires first increasing the production capacity of raw materials such as tubers. To do this, investments are being made in the field with a particular interest in the cassava sector with 2.4 billion CFA francs collected at the end of June 2024 for the realization of cassava plantations supported by India. A budget of approximately 12 billion CFA francs is planned for the development of the sector over the period 2024-2026.
