September 14, 2009

Cameroon's corn output between January and August stood at 1,400,000 tonnes, up from a total of 1,380,000 tonnes produced a year earlier, a study by the National Support Program for the Maize Sector said Friday (September 11).

Corn, used for industrial and domestic consumption as staple food, was one of several crops, whose shortage and price hikes sparked nationwide protests in February 2008, leading to at least 40 deaths.

Cameroon's corn yearly output is expected to reach 1.5 million by the end of the year, the report said. The country already has a project to 40,000 tonnes within three months on 6,000 hectares of land in the middle savannah plateau farmlands of the Adamawa Region north of Yaounde.