Cameroon Radio Television, Cameroon
16/06/2014: The cotton and textile industry in the Cameroon can be very rewarding if only appropriate decisions to harness the available potentials are taken.
This is the crux of what the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development has decided to tackle head-long, through the transformation of locally produced cotton, the yearly production of which presently stands at 120 000 tons.
According to the Director of Industries, Martin YANKAM, less than 4% of home-grown cotton is transformed in the country.
He says the government’s idea is to move this percentage up to 40 by 2015, three years after Cameroon’s electricity supply would increased substantially thanks to the development of several electricity projects like the Lom-Pangar whose development will bring about an increase of 170 mw.
As a first step to arrive at this target, secondary and high school children will wear uniforms produced at home using home-grown cotton; the military and other corps will be involved in the policy of consuming made-in-Cameroon products as well, he concluded confidently.
This perhaps explains why at the meeting called in the Ministry to develop strategies in this regards, there was an impressive presence of top officials from the country’s cotton production and transformation industries, from the ministries of Basic and Secondary Education, from the National Investment Corporation and other socio-professional backgrounds.
When opening the meeting, the Minister of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Badel Ndanga Ndinga called on the officials to develop strategies that will overturn weaknesses that have kept the sub-sectors lagging behind.
He cited some of them saying for instance that Cameroonians haven’t sufficiently developed the culture of consuming home-made products add that local industries need to be upgraded, the quality of their products improved upon through joint-ventures and a relentless fight waged against contraband.
