The Cameroonian-Israeli project, worth 98.4 billion FCFA, to produce 46,700 tons of rice over three years in northern Cameroon is central to the fight for rice self-sufficiency, but it remains just one link among many in a much broader national strategy.
What does the agreement with Ekobell entail?
On March 6, 2026, the State of Cameroon signed an agreement with the Israeli company Ekobell to develop 10,000 hectares of rainfed rice cultivation in the northern regions (particularly the North and Adamawa regions). The total cost of the project is €150 million, or approximately 98.4 billion FCFA, for a targeted production of 46,700 tons of paddy rice over three years, equivalent to 31,289 tons of high-quality milled rice. Ultimately, this volume would represent nearly 18% of the current national production of high-quality milled rice.
The targeted areas include Sirdjam and Pola in the North region, as well as Mbé in the Adamawa region, with the announced mobilization of approximately 8,000 producers. Beyond agricultural production, the project promoters emphasize the expected ripple effects on logistics, industrial processing, and rural incomes in these areas.
Macro-level issue: a soaring import bill
Rice represents a significant portion of Cameroon’s food bill, which explains the government’s eagerness to launch numerous infrastructure projects. In 2024, the country spent 318.6 billion FCFA on rice imports, representing 6.4% of its total imports, a 58.6% increase in just one year, according to the National Institute of Statistics. A report from the Ministry of Finance indicates a 14.2 billion FCFA decrease in rice imports in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the previous quarter, a sign of a slight downward trend, even though dependence remains high.
In the medium term, the 2025-2027 Economic and Budgetary Programming Document forecasts that national rice production will increase from 140,710 tons in 2024 to 460,000 tons in 2027. By 2030, the National Rice Sector Development Strategy aims for 750,000 tons, representing an estimated self-sufficiency rate of 97%. In other words, the Ekobell project is a sector accelerator, but it cannot, on its own, reverse the structural dependence on imports.
The PDCVRC and Other Rice Financing
The Rice Value Chain Development Project in Cameroon (PDCVRC), with a total cost of approximately 98 billion FCFA, is another pillar of the strategy to scale up the sector. This program aims to improve productivity, strengthen the capacities of rice farmers, open up production areas, increase the incomes of smallholder farmers, and facilitate access to basic social services. It is co-financed by several donors: the Islamic Development Bank, the OPEC Fund, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.
Recently, the Kuwait Fund approved 5.9 billion FCFA in financing specifically to support the rice sector through this project, with the stated objective of contributing to food self-sufficiency and exporting the surplus to sub-regional markets. By combining public projects and private partnerships like the one with Ekobell, the government is attempting to cover both upstream (productivity, irrigation, seeds) and downstream (processing, marketing, market access) aspects of the rice industry.
What the Ekobell project changes (or doesn’t change)
The 10,000-hectare rainfed rice farming project offers several potential benefits for the Far North and North regions:
- Job creation for 8,000 farmers and related activities (transport, storage, processing).
- Increased supply of high-quality milled rice, a segment in high demand in urban centers.
- Strengthening of logistics corridors between northern production areas and major markets in the south of the country.
However, in terms of volume, the 31,289 tonnes of milled rice planned over three years remain modest compared to the target of 460,000 tonnes in 2027 and 750,000 tonnes in 2030. The project therefore appears more as a techno-economic demonstrator and a regional lever than as an immediate macroeconomic game changer, especially in a context where imports still amounted to more than 318 billion FCFA in 2024.
