Cameroon Proposes To Industrialize Charcoal Manufacture

Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. (Cameroon News) – Cameroon Government is reviewing a proposal to employ unprocessed wood to make charcoal so as to prevent energy deficits.

The government of Cameroon has decided to put in place a decision to fully convert wood that is not processed into charcoal, on an industrial scale, so as to put a full stop to the energy deficit in the northern regions.

This move could also help to a great extent in drastically reducing the excessive cutting of trees that is posing a serious hazard to the ecosystem.

This decision has been taken after a detailed research was conducted in the production and consumption aspects by a team of experts representing the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and its German partner, Giz.

The study was carried out under the purview of a Germano-Cameroon Forest and Environment Sectorial Support Programme (Pro PSFE) which works towards the objective of preserving while also promoting forest products.

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Denis Koulanga, on Thursday March 17, had headed a seminar that had been arranged with a group of concerned parties in order to do a detailed review of the project so far and also appraise the results obtained to date, while also chalking out a plan of action regarding the next step to be undertaken. The seminar was arranged at the German Cooperation office in Bastos, Yaounde.

While revealing the observations and inferences of the study, the leader of the three member team of consultants who had undertaken the study, Ibrahim Njoya, revealed that the average consumption of charcoal in Garoua, Maroua, Ngaoundere and Kouseri, where the studies had been based on, is estimated at 24,000 tonnes annually, amounting to a sum of FCFA 6 billion.

In comparison to that demand the supply is meager –in fact just around 8,431 tonnes per annum. This would mean that the demand is almost three fold that of the supply.

The study, he said, was also able to determine that most of the wood is just allowed to rot in the forest zones in the East region, when on the other hand the same wood that goes wasted when rotten could be processed well in advance and converted into charcoal.

The charcoal thus manufactured could be then transported to the Northern regions and used up to cover the huge margins that the study revealed in the supply versus demand of the region.

They agreed that this would also bring up the income as well as improve lives of the timber producers of the east, decrease the encroachment of desertification in the northern parts of the country and even promote increased regional trade between Cameroon and Chad.

These reasons make the decision to industrialize charcoal production a more feasible and sensible one especially considering the job and income prospects that it offers.

“We noticed that the potential is available, the know-how is there but there is a problem of excessive control on the roads which could force the product at almost no franc from the source to get to the market at cut-throat price”, the consultants said.

The reason for choosing the northern provinces of the country, which forms one of the biggest bands in timber felling in among others that this region is the most connected and this would mean that the timber can be easily transported from the forests to the markets.

There are also better prospects for bringing down control checks so that the population who uses it gets it on a more affordable or reasonable price.

At a juncture where the entire world is reeling from the effects caused by excessive deforestation such a measure would be most welcome especially if it can curb excessive felling of trees.