(Business in Cameroon) - According to the Cocoa and Coffee Inter-professional Board (CICC) the quality of the beans is at the origin of this impairment. Omer Maledy Gatien, the Executive Secretary of the board said that Cameroon cocoa sales are CFAF 400 lower than the world market price at around CFAF 1400 per kilogram.

The revelation was made on December 27, 2012 at Bafia in the Mbam and Inoubou Division at the end of a repressive operation to combat drying of cocoa on tarred roads - a common practice amongst farmers living along the highway from Yaoundé to Ntonga.

“It’s a ‘show of strength’ awareness tour to demonstrate to the international community that we have taken steps to eradicate the bad practices in the cocoa-coffee sector,” said Omer Maledy Gatien. According to him, the CICC is firmly committed to salvage this economic sector from the several difficulties it is facing.

Cameroon has seen over the past years and even decades its cocoa production downsize to such an extent that it is fast losing its position as the fifth largest exporter worldwide.

Figures from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) show a sharp drop last year. The 2011/12 production was marketed at 207 698 tons  against 218 702 tons in the 2010/11 season - a decrease of 5%. On the other hand, exports fell by 9,056. While the cocoa production from Cameroon is facing problems, the productions from Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana are reportedly doing quite well.

Jude Viban