Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
128
3.8 Cameroon
Cameroon is gradually recovering from the severe crisis that has weakened all sectors of
economic and social life in the 80s and 90s. The resumption of growth that began in 2006
continued in 2007 and 2008 with average growth rate of GDP per annum than 3.5 percent.
Agriculture contributes significantly to the recovery and to this day remains one of the main
engines of growth in Cameroon. Data from the Ministry of Finance indicate that the sub-sector
of food and cash crops in 2008 represent 75 percent of the Value Added of the primary sector
contributes around 23 percent of GDP. The agricultural sector also plays an important role
with regard to employment. Estimates of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) are
agriculture and livestock sector to about one third of the total workforce. Such a weight is
justified mainly by the introduction of several stimulus programs in sectors agriculture, animal
husbandry and fishery in recent years.128
The resumption of economic growth coincided with a renewed interest by the government
statistics in general and agricultural statistics in particular. Thus several conventions and
agricultural projects were signed with development partners such as FAO and PARIS21 to
revive agricultural statistics. Some of these projects have focused on the problems of statistical
data collection for example by offering methodologies for the collection of agricultural and
fishery statistics, or for the preparation of food balance sheets.
i. Organization of the Agricultural Statistics System
The Legal Framework: Cameroon has a statistical system which can be traced back to the
colonial period, with the creation in 1946 of the Local General Statistics Service in Douala. The
institutional evolution of the statistical information system of Cameroon is experiencing a
major turn in 2001 with the creation of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the body
responsible for coordinating the activities of national statistical information system. The
responsibility for collecting, processing and disseminating food and agricultural statistics is
clearly defined. Decrees organizing the ministries in charge of rural sectors create division in
charge of statistics in each of them. The law N°91/023 of 19 th December 1991 mentioned in
article 5 that “Individual information related to economic or financial situation recorded in any
statistical survey form can never be used for economic control or repression”. Many
governmental organizations are involved in the collection of these statistics but with no real
coordinating mechanism. The flow of information among these agencies could be improved.129
Unlike many countries where activities in the agricultural sector are concentrated and defined
within the same ministry, farming in Cameroon is divided among several ministries.
Presidential Decree No. 2005/118 of 15 April 2005 on the organization of Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development created a Directorate of Agricultural Statistics Survey and
with the mission:
 Developing and monitoring the implementation of the Government's policy regarding
the collection and production of agricultural statistics ;
 The implementation of agricultural statistical surveys ;
128 INS, 2007b and INS, 2008.
129 Ibid