(Business in Cameroon) - Since launching in 2012, the “New Generation” programme implemented by the Interprofessional Council for Coffee and Cocoa (CICC) which is intended to modernise cocoa producers and plantations in Cameroon, has already enabled the planting of 1,235 acres of cocoa plants by around 325 youngsters.

It is certainly due to these results that the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) recently announced that it will be providing financing to support this Cameroonian cocoa and coffee initiative.

“New Generation” originated from a study conducted in production areas by the CICC. It revealed that the average age of cocoa producers in Cameroon was 63 years and was as high as 70 years in the West. In order to attract young people to cocoa cultivation, the CICC had decided to provide assistance each year to at least 100 young graduates of the country’s agricultural schools, provided they planted at least one cocoa plant on every 7 acres of land.

Thanks to the multi-faceted support granted to these budding cocoa farmers by the CICC and particularly the personalised guidance they have received from planting seedlings to selling the harvest, the CICC hopes for not only a substantial increase in production in the years to come, but also an increased number of farmers in the country. National production reached 230,000 tonnes during the last season. The common goal of the government and Cameroonian farmers is to reach 600,000 tonnes by 2020.