An agreement to this effect was signed between the web-developer, the Cameroon Telecommunications and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on Friday.

Cameroon’s agro pastoral web portal www.camagro.cm that went operational in May 2015 under the auspices of Cameroon’s Telecommunications, CAMTEL has been officially handed over to government.

The web portal is now under the management tutelage of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications sequel to an agreement signed by Minette Libom Li Likeng and the General Manager of CAMTEL, David Nkoto Emane on June 10, 2016.

The web portal connects fish farmers, livestock breeders, and producers, processing industries, traders and trainers. Stakeholders will hence buy and sell products or get information and training using Short Message Services (SMS), web services, mobile applications and a call centre.

The portal is an economic model offering profitable solutions to internet users (accessing and posting adverts for products free of charge, and by taking out monthly and annual subscription), agro pastoralists (take annual subscriptions that enable them to receive market information (prices of commodities) via SMS as well as product sales adverts based on their interests.

Agricultural and livestock farmers can also take an annual subscription that enables them to place adverts by SMS, which are sent to all CAMAGRO subscribers and displayed online, on the web portal.

The project plans to deploy a Data Centre to archive, store, and process data in a safe and secure environment. The web portal will boost agro pastoral production and through it agribusiness will be developed.

Over 45 per cent of Cameroonians are in rural areas, representing close to 10 million people and the need to have knowledge of market trends prompted the conception of the CAMAGRO project.

It was also born from the fact that the mobile telephone penetration is around 73 per cent with over 17.5 million mobile subscribers, of which close to 50 per cent live in the rural world.

Equally noted is the fact that 70 per cent of the country’s workforce is involved in the agro pastoral sector, of which over 80 per cent live in rural areas. Most importantly is the fact that 22.2 per cent of Cameroon’s GDP is generated from agriculture. The CAMAGRO portal is also expected to recruit close to 1.5 million subscribers and over 5 million users.

The cost of the CAMAGRO investment is estimated at 30 million Euro (about FCFA 18,000 billion), spread over three years and the profit potential over the period under consideration, that is, of 10 years is estimated at close to 10 million Euros (about FCFA 600 billion), disclosed CAMTEL’s GM, David Nkoto Emane.