Cameroon
Pomme de terre/
Potato
Year2007
Production
156 200 tons
Harvested area
111 000 acres
Yield
1.4 tons/acre
Potatoes arrived in Cameroon in the late 19th century during German colonization. But it was not until the 1940s - following the introduction of improved varieties - that widespread cultivation began. The new crop was instantly popular with farmers in western Cameroon, where it proved adapted to the region's high plateaus.
Today, potatoes are grown by more than 200,000 farmers, mostly smallholders and usually women. Production is concentrated in highland zones at altitudes between 2 950 and 9 800 feet. Both yields and the area planted have expanded steadily over the past decade, resulting in an increase of more than 300 percent in total output. In 2007, the potato harvest totalled some 160 000 tons. While average yields are low - less than 1.5 tons per acre in 2007 - yields of 20 tons have been reported in the commercial sector.
Despite the growth in potato production, Cameroon ranks as a small potato producer in Africa, and annual consumption is estimated at a low 11 lb per capita.
Further details from CIP's World Potato Atlas