(Business in Cameroon) - On October 6 and 7, 2015, Cameroon’s Inter-professional Council of Cocoa and Coffee conducted in Monatélé, a district of Lékié, a review of the first stage of its program “Supporting Organization of Commercialization (AOC in French)” launched in 2013. “We believe we are on the right track considering the results obtained over the past 2 years”, said CICC’s executive secretary, Omer Gatien Malédy.
As a matter of facts, statistics from CICC related to the AOC program revealed a significant increase in legally commercialized beans during the past two seasons. In 2013-3014 for example, in Lékié, sales statistics previously inexistent a year before now show 6,256 tons of beans sold at a price per Kg ranging from 800-1200 FCFA.
In 2014-2015, more than 18,000 tons were legally sold, out of which more than 7,000 tons were commercialized during grouped sales while the remaining portion was through convention with exporters. During this season, producer’s price varied from 1,150 to 1,525 FCFA.
Moreover, instead of the 529 Gic and Gic unions regrouping the 25,000 producers unorganized of this region, a union of cooperatives from all of Lékié’s nine districts headed by the Federation of Unions of Centre’s cocoa farmers (Fuccac).
As a reminder, CICC’s AOC program has for main objectives the gathering of producers into cooperatives for a better training, the organization of grouped sales for better prices, proper statistics for a better follow-up of commercialization and production activities. After Lékié, the AOC will extend to Nyong-Ekellé in the Centre, Boumba and Ngoko (Cameroon’s Eastern region).