Individuals and groups are tapping experiences from Benin, China, France and Italy.

The venue of the third agribusiness exhibition, SIALY at the Yaounde City Hall is pulling crowds with individuals, entrepreneurs, small and medium-size enterprises tapping from national and foreign experiences. Prominent on display are the stands of investors from Benin, with focus on traditional medicine, China on agricultural processing equipment, France on biodegradable plastics and Italy with over 25 companies specialised in food processing.

Cameroon is endowed with natural resources amongst which are raw materials. Notwithstanding, the agribusiness sector is yet to fully contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The reverse is said to be true with most countries where exports in processed food represent 80 per cent of business turnover like in Italy. The Managing Director of Nove Consulting, a firm that specialises in business promotion export, Fabio Santoni, says tomato paste, coffee drinks, cheese, vegetable oil and juice are just a few of the items the country prides itself with in terms of exports.

Fabio sees Cameroon as a country where small and medium-size enterprises should transform the economy by embracing technology from elsewhere. “Nine million small and medium enterprises are movers and shakers of our economy,” he said, proposing that Cameroon should process its own products for local and the international markets.” He argued that for Cameroon to enjoy the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, emphasis should be on quality production.

All the countries represented at the exhibition have mobilised their companies involved in food production and processing with emphasis on vegetable oils, palm, meat, cheese, mobile slaughtering, fish and poultry. Stand attendants all affirmed that; “We want to transfer technology to Cameroon by offering our expertise.” Adding value to Cameroonian products is their target. Curtains on SIALY 2015 will drop on Monday April 27, 2015.