Trade Minister handed over the payments in Kumba amid public ecstasy on September 23, 2015.

Cameroon’s determination to raise cocoa quality and production from the current 230,000 to 600,000 metric tons by 2020 is well on course. To buttress this ambition, the Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, on September 23, 2015 handed over FCFA 400 Million premium in bank cheque to 5,038 certified cocoa farmers who had undergone training under TELCAR/CARGILL sponsorship. He was accompanied by South West Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai amid a host of personalities.

The cash donation came from TELCAR/CARGILL, in addition to their earlier gifts of potable water supply to six cocoa-bed communities of Muyenge, Lykoko, Koto, Barombi, Mbonge and Konye in the South West Region. The initiative falls within the cocoa-sustainability-venture entered since 2011 by TELCAR, Cameroon’s main exporter of cocoa and its European-based partner, CARGILL.

Receiving the cheque, which he in turn handed over to farmers at the TELCAR warehouse in Kumba, Minister Mbarga Atangana conveyed government’s appreciation to the donor, Kate Kayi Fotso, CEO of TELCAR, for motivating the welbeing of cocoa producers over the years. The Minister remarked that the training of farmers by this benefactor has since 2011 scaled down the poorly smoked cocoa beans from 80 per cent to 15 per cent currently. This, to the Minister, is a marked improvement towards high yields, quality produce and, especially, the welbeing of farmers.

It is worth noting that between 2012 and 2014 the cocoa promise venture by TELCAR/CARGILL has trained 10,888 cocoa farmers in some 308 field schools. Among those trained, 5,035 have been fully certified. The programme is rising to involve 10,000 other cocoa farmers in the Centre and South Regions next year through 334 farmer field schools. Thanks to the training in good agricultural practices resulting in increased yields, authorities confirm that farmers have scaled from the initial 400 kilogrammes production per hectare in 2011 to 1,000 kilogrammes per hectare this year.

The Kumba event equally served as graduation ceremony for 2,500 other cocoa farmers who had completed training and were awaiting certification. Some 145 cooperatives and farmer groups also entered agreements to be trained in cooperative academy to enable them face challenges in cocoa business.