The 75^th General Assembly of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries is underway at the Hilton. Stakeholders in the cocoa sector from across the globe are concerting in Yaounde to seek ways of surmounting challenges that hamper the product from ably contributing to the socio-economic development of the producing countries. This is within the framework of the 75^th general assembly of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries (COPAL) which went underway at the Hilton Hotel yesterday October 8.

For five days (October 8 – 12) the over 200 participants from the ten-member countries of COPAL will jointly propose solutions to problems like unethical drying of cocoa where some producers in Cameroon like elsewhere spread the product on tar along major highways, jeopardising its quality that is highly needed at the international market, certification, pests, old farms and farmers and the inevitable problem of climate change. Speaking during the opening, Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, who is also the Chairman of the ongoing COPAL 75^th General Assembly, enjoined cocoa stakeholders from other countries to work as a team to rise above the difficulties. “What unites us is more than the differences we might have. We are working to improve the volume of production. We also need to improve processing in order to promote local consumption. Secondly, without good quality, we would not have access to the market, especially European markets,” the Minister said. It is now official that from April 1, 2013, any cocoa bean that is unprofessionally dried will not be allowed into the European Union markets.

Like other speakers that mounted the podium to present what they are doing in their respective countries, the Secretary General of COPAL, Nanga Coulibaly, stressed on the need for reforms. “We are encouraging countries to put in place policies that can help us to gain more income from cocoa. The role of COPAL is to coordinate all the activities and to put in place some attractive programmes and to be sure that the value chain is beneficial to all,” he said. Given that the continent exports more cocoa bean than it does with the processed type, participants at the Yaounde confab will also be learning and seeing how they can benefit from African Cocoa Initiative, a five-year programme with the goal of institutionalising effective public and private sector models to support sustainable productivity growth and improved food security on diversified cocoa farms in West and Central Africa. The confab will be followed next Thursday by the golden jubilee of COPAL and from October 15 – 21, participants will converge for the 17^th International Conference on Cocoa Research.