(Business in Cameroon) - The partnership between the regional agricultural school of Ebolowa, in the southern region, and the Terre Atlantique high school in Nantes, France signed some months ago is starting to bear fruits. On 20 June, a team gathering students from these two schools organised at the Ministry of Agriculture a tasting session of locally produced chocolate, made with Cameroonian cacao.

“This is now about continuing this cooperation and increase actions, for this project to become an economic development project”, declared the Minister of Agriculture, Henri Eyebé Ayissi, while tasting dark and white chocolate, made in the cocoa processing workshop, set up in the Collège régional d’agriculture (CRA) of Ebolowa, and opened to producers who want to move into cocoa processing.

As a reminder, in Cameroon, 75% of cocoa beans are exported as raw material. Which leaves local producers exposed to fluctuations in international prices, as is currently the case. Indeed, while average prices per kilogram had reached FCfa 1,500 in several production areas during the last season, for three months now, these prices have drastically dropped, often peaking at FCfa 800 per kilogram only, in some areas in the country. Hence the necessity to process beans, which is more profitable.

 BRM