Food in Cameroon

Cameroon’s food supply draws on five agro-ecological zones. Common crops include maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, plantain, taro or macabo, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, cowpeas, beans, soybeans, groundnuts and vegetables. Beef, goat, poultry and fish come from livestock production, inland and marine fishing, and aquaculture. In the North, cereal sowing commonly takes place around May and harvesting around October; in the Centre and South, the main maize season often runs from sowing in March or April to harvesting between August and October. Local seasons, lean periods, conflict, climate conditions, farm inputs and transport costs can change this pattern. Many meals follow a starch-and-sauce pattern. Fufu or couscous, cassava, plantain, taro, maize and rice may accompany sauces or stews prepared by boiling, pounding, steaming, wrapping in leaves, drying, smoking or grilling. Examples include ndolé with leaves and groundnuts, achu with taro paste and yellow soup, eru, ekoki or koki, kondré with unripe plantain and palm oil, mbongo’o tchobi with fish, okok, sanga, domba and kilichi made from dried beef. These dishes have documented regional associations, such as ndolé in the Littoral, okok in the Centre, kondré in the West, eru in the North-West, rice couscous with baobab sauce in Adamawa and nsanga in the East; these associations do not make a dish exclusive to one region. People obtain and consume food through household cooking, markets, informal vendors, street-food stalls, restaurants and hotels. Access is generally routine, but household food choices depend on income, location, season, transport and security. Humanitarian food assistance mainly supports vulnerable, displaced or food-insecure households, while conflict and climate shocks affect food security in six of Cameroon’s ten regions. The World Food Programme estimates that about 2.9 million people need humanitarian assistance and about 2.2 million people are displaced; around 29% of children under five are stunted. Cameroon faces a double burden of malnutrition: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity occur at the same time. UNICEF reports that 60% of infants under six months are not exclusively breastfed and 8% are not breastfed at all. Anaemia affects about 40% of women aged 15 to 49 and about 60% of children under five. The 2024–2030 multisectoral food and nutrition plan addresses these challenges, while individual medical treatment belongs to the health system rather than to general food guidance. Food safety risks include contamination, unsafe chemicals, inadequate hygiene and insufficient cooling. The WHO Healthy Food Market initiative has operated since 2023 in Ndogpassi and New Deido in Douala. More than 200 food-poisoning cases, including 35 children, were reported in 2024, and monitoring in 2021 found 70% non-compliant pesticide samples across seven regions. Under Law 2018/020, marketed food products require an Autorisation de Mise en Consommation (AMC), which is valid for three years. MINSANTE can test samples in ISO 17025 laboratories, while MINCOMMERCE can block, withdraw or recall non-compliant or dangerous products and impose sanctions. MINADER oversees agriculture, production policy and seeds. MINEPIA covers livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and animal-based food. MINSANTE is responsible for nutrition, food quality, hygiene and AMC, and MINCOMMERCE handles market, standards and quality controls as well as consumer protection. MINTOUL supports tourism, restaurants and gastronomy; tourist businesses may use the e-MINTOUL system. Hygiene and quality still vary by provider and location, and there is no reliable nationwide restaurant price list in the available evidence. The National Institute of Statistics reported food prices 7.0% higher year on year in 2025 and a cumulative food increase of 41.8% between 2022 and 2025. In May 2026, food prices rose 2.3% month on month, including vegetables by 6.1%, fish and seafood by 4.6% and meat by 1.6%; restaurant and hotel prices rose 0.9% in November 2025. These figures are national or time-specific indicators, so a realistic budget should use current local prices and account for seasonal and regional differences. Sustainable food practice in Cameroon focuses on climate resilience, markets and value chains, youth participation, and forest and landscape protection. Major risks include fall armyworm, which can cause local maize losses of 60% to 75%, cassava mosaic disease, and banana bunchy top disease or TR4. FAO and the UN Food Systems Transition Pathway support this direction, but no uniform nationwide consumer sustainability label is established in the available evidence. Shopping is a prerequisite for obtaining food, medical nutrition treatment belongs to health, and ritual or cultural interpretation belongs to traditions when those are the primary subject.