Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. February 2011. (Cameroon News) – Cocoa Growers in Cameroon have indicated a sharp rise in their earnings and this has been attributed primarily to the Ivorian Crisis.

“The steadily rising prices are encouraging farmers to revive and expand abandoned plantations.”

In the past few months, cocoa growers in Cameroon have been more than ecstatic. Prices for their produce have risen steadily to get to an all-time high of 1,400 FCFA [about US $3] per kilogram.
This number is almost twice of what was the highest ever price which was recorded close to three years ago.

Officials at Cameroon’s National Cocoa and Coffee Board would like to dedicate this price hike mostly to the political uprising that had happened during the recent past in Ivory Coast which is the world’s largest producer of the crop.
The country is alone responsible for 40 percent of total yield produced world over.
Ever since the presidential polls and related controversies have buried the country in a turmoil these numbers have gone for a toss and have plummeted down.

Cocoa pods

Mr. Gbagbo is facing severe pressure from all parts of the world which is on an increasing spree to hand over the reigns of power to Mr. Ouattara, who most people feel in the actual winner. European Union attempts which have been regularly forcing Mr. Gbagbo to move over from his position of power are now posing serious threats to cocoa shipments from Ivory Coast, which yields a produce of an average of 1.3 million tons every year.

Michael Ndoping, managing director of the Cameroon Cocoa and Coffee Board, says although prices are most often ascertained by supply and demand conditions, the prices of most commodities especially cocoa are on a rise owing to speculations that have been prevalent about the political crisis in the country and its effects of the farming community of the country.

“We’re mixing two things. We’re talking politics, we’re talking business. Like you would know, the Ivory Coast is the No. 1 producer of cocoa in the world. So anything that happens in Cote d’Ivoire invariably has an impact on the market. We’ve noticed since August that prices have been sustained. We think that the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire has an impact. So that could account for the sustainable prices we’ve noticed for the last six months,” Ndoping says.

Experts forecast that the prices which are on an increasing trend will go over the top if the present crisis turns out into a war in a later stage, putting a steady barrier to exports from Ivory Coast. In the meanwhile, other countries who produce the crop are doing everything within their means to exploit the situation to as much extent as possible especially because the present condition there is causing a lot of tension and anxiety for the chocolate manufactures based out of West.

Bags of cocoa for export

In Ghana, the world’s second largest producer of the crop, officials are raking their brains to find out ways and means of repositioning their country as the world’s top producer of the crop since exports of the crop from the top producer Ivory Coast are more than likely to be disrupted temporarily. Ghana was in fact the world’s top producer of the crop till 1978 when Ivory Coast overtook it to get to the top place.

In Cameroon, yet another leading producer of the crop sincere efforts are being made by officials to revive the sector and revigorate it all over again. Production rose to 205,000 tons in the 2008/09 season and Ndoping says that the prospects look even more promising this year as the season progresses.

“We launched the season in August. As of today, we’ve exported 174,000 tons and that to us is a very big jump because last year at this period, we were at 134,000 tons. So there’s a difference of almost 40,000 tons and that’s a remarkable increase and so we can say the sector is doing very well. By the end of July, we should surpass 200,000 tons,” Ndoping explains.

The prices that are moving upwards at a steady pace are promoting farmers to reinstate and enhance cocoa plantations that were once ignored or abandoned.

Growth in production of cocoa in Cameroon had grown slower in the late 1980s as world market prices went to an all time low and high export taxes forced farmers to migrate to more important crops like grain.

But since 2005, a vast plethora of efforts have resulted in brining back the interest that farmers and governments lost in the crop.
Export taxes have been totally eliminated, and farmers are starting to gain from numerous programs and measures that aim at offering high-yielding seedlings for free or at heavily reduced rates.

The programs have also worked towards improving access to a huge category of other information like fertilizer and pesticides.
This year some five million plants are getting ready to be distributed amongst farmers, and an additional 4,000 hectares of cocoa plantations will be deployed.

Cristel Pound, a farmer in the country’s South Region says the crisis in Ivory Coast has presented Cameroon a golden opportunity to enhance the quality as well as quantity of its cocoa produce which is too good to be missed.

“ At the moment, weather conditions are favorable. There is low rainfall, which favors production and ample sunshine, which encourages fermentation and also allows us to dry our beans for longer periods. We’ve also noticed few cases of blackpod disease. That implies we can improve both our quantity and quality in a very short time. The decision-makers should now play their role,” Pound says.

Across Cameroon, farmers like Pound say the country’s infrastructure in the major obstacle to promoting faster growth of not just this crop, but also other forms of agricultural produce.
Below average transport connectivity links make it increasingly impossible and excessively expensive for farmers to get their crops and other produce to market.

But the government says it is gradually but steadily working on the process of putting in place new and better roads which in turn will aid to make areas of agricultural production more accessible.
It also says it’s deploying conservation units and processing plants and offering farmers groups market information and improved techniques as well as updated information about the latest machinery so that agricultural production may increase and that the lives of farmers may improve.

It has also introduced an open battle against middlemen who have faced serious allegations of not adhering to standards.
Some even go to the extent of convincing poverty stricken farmers to dispose off cocoa beans that have not been properly dried or are fermented, at rock bottom prices which they then sell to exporters at the regular rates thereby making a bargain out of it.
They’re also most often faced with the allegation of not giving the poor farmers a fair price for their produce.

The government support package also comprises duty exemptions on items that go into cultivation like improved seeds and pesticides.

Many farmers groups have sent innumerable requests for the government to immediately deploy large subsidies while the Ivorian crisis lasts.
They say the crisis should act as an incentive for them to improve production.