Cameroon

"Contribute to improvement of living conditions of small-scale Arabica farmers in the North-West of Cameroon by increasing their incomes"

Introduction

Over the past 25 years production of coffee declined dramatically in Cameroon. From a peak of 120,000Mt in the mid-eighties, the country currently produces only 34,000Mt per year. The bulk of Cameroons production is Robusta coffee, approximately 30,000Mt, grown predominantly in the West and South West of the country. Arabica originates from the North-West region and comes in at about 4,000Mt annually. One of the main reasons for us to become involved in the Cameroonian Arabica sector is that its viability is under threat. Below a certain available volume of coffee it becomes loss-making for exporters to operate in a sector. the Cameroon Arabica sector is very close to that threshold and increasing available volumes is imperative for the sector re-establish itself. Moreover, coffee is often the only source of cash income for farmers, particularly in the more isolated areas. Without sufficient volumes to continue to attract buyers Cameroonian coffee farmers would face even more hardship than they currently do.

The reasons for the decline in volume are multiple (for those of you that are interested, a baseline study is available for download). Some issues reside at governmental level and are hard to address by a single project, others are easier to influence, such as a  lack of access to services by farmers.

In partnership with Olam (an international agri-buisiness) and the National Coffee and Cocoa Board of Cameroon (NCCB) the project aims to increase available volumes of Arabica coffee and contribute to improvement of living conditions of Arabica farmers. This is to be achieved by doubling productivity of existing farms, establishing farmer organisations through which farmers have better access to local markets and services such as technical advice and credit. To maintain sector viability the project also aims to promote coffee farming among the general population through regular coffee programmes on various local radio stations and by hosting regular coffee events.

Olam established a project team of 8 people with an office in Kumbo, right in the middle of the Arabica growing area. One of their first activities were to establish a Farmer Field Schools (FFS) programme and to train a total of 70 trainers to run these FFS. Trainers were trained in good agricultural practices and training methodologies. During the first year of FFS, in which farmers got to know and trust each other and the project team, all the FFS groups were registered as legal entities. From this basis larger groups of about 100 farmers each have been formed. The best of these groups sold 14Mt of green coffee directly to Olam and obtained a 20% higher price. This is expected to serve as an example to other groups. And slowly but surely we expect to contribute to increasingly self-sufficient farmer groups that maximise benefits for their membership.

Aside from access to regular project activities such as training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), benefits of group membership include accessing credit for fertiliser through group membership, marketing coffee, accessing seedlings of disease resistant varieties and participation in production of mushrooms and possible UTZ certification. Overall, we seek to help farmers professionalise their operations.

Focus of the project

Enhance viability of the Cameroon Arabica sector and well-being of producers by increasing productivity, assisting in organisational development, and facilitating access to services and certification.

Activities

• Design agricultural training programme
• Training trainers on training methodology and technical content
• Develop manuals on GAP
• Training producers 6 to 8 times per year on various topics
• Implement Farmer Field Books with about 250 producers
• Establish farmer groups as legal entities
• Broadcast regular coffee radio programme
• Facilitate access to credit

Results

About 70 trainers have been trained in good agricultural practices and in the methodology to facilitate the FFS. In different parts of the project region 52 farmer groups have been established with highly motivated producers, this has resulted in about 16,000 training contacts in the first 2 years of the project. The first GAP manuals have been designed, printed and used in FFS. Six nurseries have been established that have produced about 5,000 seedlings each. This is crucial as farms have aged considerably and current varieties are often not disease resistant, leading to large losses.

Nascent productivity improvements are reported from various sources, but our own data is not yet sufficient to confirm this trend.We expect to know more after the 2011/12 season.

Partners

• OLAM International
• National Coffee and Cocoa Board

Contact information

Austin Kidzeru: austin.kidzeru@e-olam.com
Anirban Deb: anirban@olamnet.com