To boost agri-business:

Camtel hands over CAMAGRO Portal to Ministry of P&T

Tchiroma claps as Camtel DG and 

MINPOSTEL exchange books

The primary sector in Cameroon is one of the sectors that employ the greatest number of Cameroonians apart from contributing enormously to the GDP of the country. However, because the activities of this sector are localized in rural, enclave areas, the sector cannot produce optimum output. As a result the government has contemplated a more innovative approach to doing business in the agro-pastoral sector if only to boost output and foster emergence.

                The Camagro Portal is therefore an online agro-pastoral market place created by Camtel and handed over to the Ministry of P&T to manage.

                Officially handed over in Yaounde on Friday 10 June 2016, the Camagro portal will bring together local and international stakeholders including fish farmers, livestock breeders, process industries, trainers, traders and more to be able to buy and sell their products or get information and training.

                “With this portal we hope to boost information and transactions in the agro-pastoral sector of the country,” said Libom Li Likeng, Minister of Posts and Telecoms at the solemn handing over ceremony.

                Because the Camargo portal is easily accessible through call centres, web services, mobile applications etc. it is hoped that the over 33% of Cameroonians in rural areas and the over 70% involved in agriculture will be able to connect to the wide world and do business through the features available on the Camagro platform.

                With this platform camtel hopes to deploy a data centre to archive, store, and process data in a safe and secure environment. Estimated to cost over 30 million euros, spread over a period of three years, the platform also projects to recruit close to 15 million subscribers and over five million users.

It is also estimated that if the project works as planned, it would generate a net profit of over 10 million euros.

                However, farmers have called for an improvement in the quality and a reduction in the price of mobile connectivity services if they must maximize the benefits that can come from the Camagro portal.