African Development Bank Approves EUR81 Million for Cameroon's Agro-Industrial Push

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved an 81.2 million euro loan to support agro-industrial development and strengthen climate resilience in northern Cameroon. The financing will fund the Programme for the Development of Agro-Industry in the North, known by its French acronym PDAS-1, a flagship initiative built around the construction of multi-purpose hillside dams designed to improve sustainable access to water in the North and Far North regions. The programme carries a total cost of 88.74 million euros, with the Government of Cameroon contributing 7.54 million euros of its own.

Hillside Dams to Secure Water for Farmers and Herders

At the centre of the project is the construction of multifunctional hillside dams intended to provide reliable water supplies for both agriculture and livestock. The Bank expects the investment to raise agricultural productivity, improve farmers' and pastoralists' year-round access to water, boost household incomes, create jobs, reduce conflict over natural resources and expand access to social services in communities that have long struggled with water insecurity. The programme also includes climate adaptation measures such as new hydrometeorological stations, tree planting and the creation of community forests, aimed at strengthening environmental sustainability and helping communities absorb climate-related shocks.

A First Phase Ahead of Larger Dams to Come

PDAS-1 is designed as the opening phase of a much larger programme. A planned second phase would mobilise water resources through large multi-purpose dams with a combined storage capacity of about 500 million cubic metres, enabling irrigation of more than 40,000 hectares of agricultural land. "Through this programme, the African Development Bank is supporting Cameroon in realising its agro-industrial potential, creating jobs, strengthening communities' climate resilience, and attracting private investment to advance import substitution and strengthen the country's food sovereignty," said Leandre Bassole, the African Development Bank Group's Director General for Central Africa and Country Manager for Cameroon.

Responding to Worsening Floods Around Lake Chad

The programme responds directly to growing water insecurity in Cameroon's North and Far North regions, where climate change is intensifying food insecurity and disrupting livelihoods. Heavy rainfall in recent years has caused recurrent flooding that has damaged infrastructure, disrupted schooling and economic activity, and displaced more than 275,000 people across the wider Lake Chad basin. In 2024 alone, flooding affected more than three million people in the region, according to the Bank, underscoring why the new dams are framed as much as a resilience measure as an economic one.

The financing is one of a wave of African Development Bank operations approved for Central and West African countries in mid-July 2026, part of a broader pattern of the institution channelling capital into agriculture and water infrastructure in regions where climate shocks and food insecurity increasingly overlap. For northern Cameroon, where communities depend heavily on rain-fed farming and seasonal grazing, the hillside dams are intended to convert unpredictable rainfall into a more stable water supply that can support both crops and livestock through the dry season.

The Bank's involvement in northern Cameroon predates this programme, with earlier operations in the region focused on rural roads, basic health infrastructure and smaller-scale irrigation schemes. PDAS-1 is designed to build on that groundwork by tackling water storage at a larger scale, on the theory that dependable water access does more than any single input to unlock private investment in processing and storage facilities further down the agricultural value chain. Government officials in Yaounde have described food sovereignty and import substitution as priorities of Cameroon's current development plan, and the new financing is explicitly framed as a contribution to both goals rather than a standalone water project.

Source: AllAfrica - African Development Bank