(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon could see its cocoa production drop during the 2021-2022 campaign, the BEAC reports in its recent quarterly business survey.  

“The 12% rise in production [to 292,471 tons] recorded during the 2020/2021 season compared with the 2019/2020 season [257,374 tons produced] is a performance that may not be matched in 2021/2022,” the BEAC wrote. According to the central bank, this could be first due to plant dormancy, “a period of rest or metabolic inactivity that most plants go through to conserve resources, survive weather extremes and stress (..) and to prepare for the next season of growth.” 

The second reason given by the BEAC to explain the projected drop in cocoa production is the persistence of insecurity in the Southwest, one of the main cocoa-producing regions in Cameroon. In the said region, a security crisis has been raging since late 2016. It is maintained by separatists fighting for the secession of the Anglophone regions (Northwest and Southwest). To achieve their goals, they initiate “ghost-town” days, kidnap or even murder civilians and economic operators. Such acts affect several businesses including the cocoa sector because farmers are unable to carry out their business as they usually do.  

In its sectoral recovery plan, Cameroon was eying a yearly national production of 600,000 tons by 2020 but up to now, it is still struggling to produce even 300,000 tons yearly. 

S.A.