Participants advocated in-depth research, use of results and reform of farms and farmers.
As the over 51 coffee researchers and exhibitors from about 15 countries within and without Africa who took part in the second edition of Cameroon’s coffee festival, “Festicoffee” rounded off display and discussions Saturday May 31, 2014, they were unanimous that Cameroonian coffee sector, like that of the entire African continent, is seriously sick and needs urgent measures to beat life back into the once vibrant sector. This will be for the good of farmers and economies. Statistics show that Cameroon in the last coffee season produced about 17,000 metric tons of coffee down from over 38,000 metric tons the previous season. Africa today produces about 16 million bags of coffee down from 23 million bags in the yesteryears. Participants of Festicoffee 2014 prayed respective governments to review their policies on coffee production.
How to Stimulate Production
They said farmers need support in form of capacity building and farm inputs. According to Frederick S.M. Kawuma, Secretary General of Inter- African Coffee Organisation (IACO), farmers have old trees that bring in low productivity. “Research has been conducted in most countries showing we have high yielding varieties which can produce much more coffee than the older traditional varieties. So, we need to have a multiplication of the new species that have been brought up through research and make it available to farmers,” he said. A view shared by the Secretary General of the Agency of Robusta Coffee of Africa and Madagascar, Leon Paul Ngoulakia, one of the co-organizers of Festicoffee who said, “research will besides giving us high-yielding coffee plants also help to fight against coffee pests.”
In response to the challenges, Cameroon’s Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Council (CICC) crafted, “New Generation” programme through which it accompanies young people from agricultural training centres in their integration to become true professionals in cocoa and coffee farming. According to its Executive Secretary, Omer Gatien Malédy, CICC is also spearheading another emergency programme for revamping coffee production through which three coffee producing basins in the East, Littoral and West Regions will be supported to replant at least 200 hectares every year on each site. After three years CICC intends to move to other sites.
Marketing & Local Processing
Festicoffee has as objective to cajole Cameroonians into consuming coffee. But this passes through local processing. Experts said the purpose of roasting coffee is to prepare it for a consumer. As such, you must know the consumer you’re preparing your coffee for. According to Frederick S.M. Kawuma, marketing the product remains a challenge. “We have a market structure that is not in the advantage of the African coffee producer. It is dominated by multinationals. This is where we need to have African investors who would go beyond small-scale roasting and build a network that goes into the market so that we can deliver our coffee in the market competitively,” he said.
Speaking during the opening like in the closing ceremony, Trade Minister, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana said coffee represents the mainstay of the economy and that boosting its production, consumption and commercialization were non-negotiable.
