CAMEROON – Cameroonian animal feed producer, SPC (Société des provenderies du Cameroun), is undertaking a XAF5 billion (US$9m) investment plan to expand its footprint in the country.
According to the company, it seeks to open two new plants in Yaoundé and Nkolmelen, to produce animal feeds and a set up a hatchery.
The investment is aimed to meet the rising local demand and the plants will be an addition to its Bafoussam facility.
“We have noticed that the animal farming industry is booming in Cameroon. The boom is so notable that we have to start relocating our production but also our raw material supply regions, which are the Far North and the East and the Central region, Yaoundé notably,” said Bart Buytaert, Director-General of the SPC.
The first phase of the Yaoundé plant is scheduled to be complete in the second half of 2022, to produce crumbles and pellets for chicken.
In the second phase, the company will start producing fish feeds, which are currently imported by the country.
Overall, the Yaoundé plant’s yearly capacity will be 50 to 80 tons, built with a XAF4 billion (US$7.2m) investment, reports Business in Cameroon.
In Nkolmelen, SPC is building a hatching egg production farm initiated by Agrocam, its sister company.
The establishment will include 12 buildings hosting 120 breeders, aimed to produce 20 million hatching eggs.
“The farm is necessary because, in the past, we have had difficulties in sourcing eggs to fill the needs of our hatcheries in Yaoundé and Douala. Our current production is not up to our needs. So, we deemed it necessary to make new investments to boost our local production capacity,” he said.
According to Agrocam, the first three buildings (spanning over 13 hectares) of the Nkolmelen farm, will be completed in November 2021 and the overall investment for the farm is XAF1 billion (US$1.8m).
SPC was founded by late business mogul Jean Samuel Noutchogouin. In 2020, the company produced 55,000 tons of animal feeds.
It claims 25% of the national livestock feed market, while its sister company Agrocam, accounts for 75% of the local day-old chick market.
Every year, it supplies 25,000-day-old chicks to the local market while Belgocam, another SPC sister company imports and sells farm inputs.
In 2019, according to Knoema, production of poultry meat for Cameroon was 83,510 tonnes, a rise from 8,008 tonnes in 1970, reflecting an annual growth rate of 5.68%.
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