The National Coffee and Cocoa Board of Cameroon (NCCB) in cooperation with the Tombel-based Regional Centre for Conservation and Development, RECODEV, with finance from Cocoa and Coffee Development Fund, FODECC, organised a training workshop for cocoa farmers from Tombel Sub-Division, South West Region, who will verify and ensure that cocoa beans sold meet recommended standards. The 30 controllers, according to Yobe Pamphile, Director of the Rehabilitation of the Internal Marketing of Cocoa and Coffee Project, RIM2CP, qualify as referees for a mutually beneficial relation between cocoa farmers and buyers at periodic markets. Equipment for verification of cocoa beans worth about FCFA 4 million was also handed to the trainees for use on the field by the project’s Director. This workshop, which responds to a request by the Ministry of Trade via RIM2CP, adds to the list of previous activities organised by NCCB on the issue of quality of marketed cocoa in localities of Ebolowa, Ambam, Bafia, Mfou, Nyanon.
The aim of the workshop, which held at the Tombel Council Hall on Thursday, December 30, was to improve quality and marketing efforts in the cocoa sector in Cameroon and to ensure that farmers benefit from the venture more than ever before through an effective skill in meeting international quality standards. Based on the experiences of attendees after the workshop they can create awareness among cocoa farmers and discuss the different aspects related to quality cocoa. Yobe highlighted the important role of producers in the constitution of strong and established farmer organisations or CIGs and the relevance of the workshop in improving quality, especially in the context of Cameroon's new cocoa sector development strategy. This enabled an in-depth understanding of all aspects related to the common code of practice, the role of different stakeholders involved, quality control, and marketing.
The participants were divided into working groups which tried to identify key elements on which to identify good and bad quality cocoa at commercialisation. Following the discussions, the participants got abreast with the five specific cocoa qualities (It must be fermented, have been dried on a drying stage or concrete area made up for that purpose, be clean and free from extraneous matter (notably vegetable and animal particles, mineral dust and man-made particles), be free from odour of smoke, pesticides or any off-odour, and the moisture content must not exceed 8%.) Drying on the tar and transportation of wet cocoa and its storage in uncertified areas are forbidden and firmly punished, says trainer, Alain Mathieu Medou Minyono of NCCB. The NCCB expressed a strong willingness to do this in cooperation with farmers’ organisations and other stakeholders.
