Cameroon

Potato farming in Cameroon plays a critical role in the country's agricultural economy, particularly in ensuring food security and supporting rural livelihoods. The North West and South West regions are the main hubs for potato production, benefiting from favorable climatic conditions and fertile volcanic soils. Over 200,000 farmers, primarily smallholders, with a significant proportion of women farmers, engage in potato cultivation across six of the ten regions. The West and North West regions account for approximately 80% of national potato production.

Typically, potatoes are grown in a single season, with planting during the rainy season (August), but some farmers manage to cultivate potatoes from November to January, especially in riverbanks and valleys. Due to limited precipitation outside the rainy season, most farmers are restricted to growing one round of potatoes annually.

Potatoes were introduced to Cameroon during the German colonial period (1884-1914), but widespread cultivation probably began in the 1940s, following the introduction of new varieties by the British and Dutch governments.

The crop was especially well received by farmers in the highlands of western Cameroon, where it proved to be well adapted to the high plateaus. In the later 1940s, degeneration of potato seed (probably due to viral infection) and late blight infestation reversed the crop's initially strong inroads, especially in the extreme southern regions.

Potatoes are an important crop in Cameroon, ranking fifth in tons produced among the major staple crops (behind cassava, plantain, cocoyam/taro, and maize).

Over 200,000 farmers grow potatoes in Cameroon, mostly smallholders and very predominately women. A 1982 survey reported that over seventy percent of potato farmers in Cameroon are women, an estimate that rose to over ninety percent in 2001. Most marketing is fairly local, but marketing channels are well organized, often under the direction of women (Source: CIP World Potato Atlas).