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Indeed, the country's massive imports include consumer goods. According to the latest foreign trade report published by the INS, plant products and cereals accounted for 9% and 10.5% respectively of imports over the period in question. For a country with thousands of hectares of arable land, this is somewhat surprising. Also, the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector is a niche of business opportunities for entrepreneurs.
In fact, there are numerous tax incentives available for those who want to get started. What's more, consuming locally or drastically reducing imports would ensure product traceability and ensure upstream that their manufacture meets local standards. The quality of certain imported products (foodstuffs, cosmetics, etc.) is all too often suspected, rightly or wrongly, and consumer associations sometimes deem them harmful to health. And, from an environmental point of view, short circuits help preserve the environment by reducing the carbon impact of our purchases. An issue which is also in the air at the moment.
Today, going to a party dressed in a toghu made of ndop fabric, a majestic boubou or a sandja, rather than a three-piece suit or a made abroad evening gown, is not just a matter of fashion or anti-conformism. It's also about self-affirmation and positive exposure that benefits the local economy.
On the food front, in 2022, the national economic situation, marked by the effects of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and persistent inflationary tensions, reminded us of our fragility. At the heart of our concerns is the issue of wheat, the main ingredient used for a mass-market product like bread. Yet local alternatives do exist. We saw the craze for bread made with sweet potato flour when local bakeries experimented with it, alas too briefly. This niche also remains largely undervalued. In this respect, the concept of import-substitution, which consists in abandoning the importation of goods that can be produced locally, has come to be grafted onto the Made in Cameroon trend; thus strengthening the opportunities for ingenious local entrepreneurs.
Thirdly, and on the strength of the foregoing, consuming Cameroonian is of course a question of economic sovereignty. In particular, through the emergence of local SMEs.
These contribute very little to the densification of the economic fabric (4.45% according to the Annuaire statistique 2022 des PME). Paradoxically, 99.8% of the local economic fabric is made up of SMEs.
In fact, beyond the will and actions of public authorities, the appropriation of local products, which suffer from an image deficit and are victims of negative prejudices compared to imported products, will require, among other things, a change in mentality on the part of consumers and a qualitative leap in manufacturing processes on the part of producers. There's no shortage of quality and ingenuity.
Contributor : François BM.
