After Cocoa: Agric minister sets sight on int’l certification for Cameroon’s coffee.

Minister Mbairobe disclosed the target in Kouoptamo, Noun Division of the West Region on Tuesday September 12.

He was addressing stakeholders while launching the project to support the revival of the coffee sector dubbed, ‘Parf-Café’. The project is worth over 76 billion FCFA.

He said sustained actions will be engaged in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, to make sure Cameroon’s coffee gets the Protected Geographical Indication, PGI, label.

According to the member of government, “particular emphasis will be placed on improving quality” to make sure Cameroon’s “coffee is certified and labeled through the Protected Geographical Indication, PGI, like that of Ziama Macenta; robusta coffee produced in Guinea”.

Minister Mbairobe also said in his capacity as President of the National Committee for the Promotion of Coordination of Indications, the international certification for coffee must be achieved in the shortest time possible.

Officials of the Ministry of Trade have repeatedly explained that such certifications come with benefits that trickle to farmers through increased prices.

Cameroon, the minister of agriculture said, is working to step its coffee production from 35,000 tonnes to 160,000 tonnes in the next four years.

Omer Gatien Maledy, Executive Secretary of the Cocoa and Coffee Inter-Professional Council, CICC, in March 2021, disclosed that: “Cameroon in 1986 produced 132,000 tonnes of coffee and ranked 12th in the world”.  Maledey had also stated that by 1991 when the sector was liberalised, production was 103,000 tonnes, pushing Cameroon to the position of 14th highest coffee producer in the world.

By 2018, the official said Cameroon could only boast of an annual production capacity of 22,000 tonnes of coffee which saw it ranked 25th globally.

The CICC Executive Secretary had in that outing blamed the downward trend on, "the absence of technical supervision, the lack of agricultural tracks, the aging of producers and plantations, the unavailability of plants, the use of old varieties with insignificant yields, the high cost of fertilisers, and above all a disaffection among producers, due to very  unattractive prices”.

Meanwhile, the General Manager of the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, Micheal Ndoping, had in a piece title: “Profile on Cameroonian coffee”, traced the glory days of the coffee sector.

He in that write-up indicated that in the 1960, the presence of the State in the sector was evident, making coffee one of the major sources of revenue.

Economically, coffee, Ndoping said, “was one of the main sources of foreign exchange. On a social level, coffee was, for certain regions such as the East Region, the almost exclusive source of income for rural populations. The State provided oversight through the distribution of inputs, price support and various forms of mobilization”.  

As for the cocoa sector where, government is taking inspiration to revive coffee production, International Cocoa Organisation, ICCO, admitted Cameroon to the “fine quality” list during a meeting in Antananarivo, Madagascar in June this year.

To meet quality criteria, government is said to be planning to implement a series of initiates next year.