The President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, signed a decree on May 4, 2026, authorizing the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development to contract a loan of 15.9 million euros, approximately CFA 10.4 billion, from Deutsche Bank Spain. This funding is specifically earmarked for the construction of an industrial slaughterhouse in the city of Maroua, the capital of the Far North region.
The main objective of this infrastructure is to structure the livestock-meat sector in the region. It also aims to improve sanitary conditions related to slaughtering and meat preservation, while strengthening the cold chain. This project is expected to have a positive impact on local employment, creating new opportunities in a region where livestock farming plays a crucial economic role.
The implementation of this project comes in a context of declining cattle production in Cameroon. Official figures reveal a significant decrease, from 94,300 tons in 2024 to less than 69,000 tons in 2025. This decline affects the supply of urban markets and the income of farmers. In 2025, beef production fell by 25,398 tons compared to 2024.
Technical details and the implementation schedule for the Maroua slaughterhouse project have not yet been released. However, this initiative is part of a broader policy of modernizing slaughter infrastructure across the country.
In the same vein, Cameroon inaugurated its first industrial slaughterhouse in Yaoundé in 2017, equipped with a 6,000 m³ cold storage warehouse. Another industrial slaughterhouse with similar capacity was commissioned in Ngaoundéré in 2018, in the Adamaoua region, the country's main livestock area. Similar projects are also planned in Kribi, Ebolowa, Douala and Bamenda. In February 2026, a new slaughterhouse was handed over to the Bamenda City Council.
The Cameroonian government aims to establish a high-performance industrial slaughter chain, capable of improving the sanitary quality of meat, reducing post-slaughter losses and supporting the increase in national production. The construction of this industrial slaughterhouse in Maroua represents a further step in the modernization of the livestock sector in Cameroon.
In October 2025, the Minister of Decentralization and Local Development, Georges Elanga Obam, laid the foundation stone for an inter-municipal agro-industrial hub in Douala-Édéa. This project includes a slaughterhouse, a meat processing unit and a blood treatment plant, representing the first phase of a larger program to modernize the sector.
