Country Profile Cameroon

"Cameroon produces beautiful coffee, but its sector has seen a steady decline in terms of volume. With our partners we try to reverse that trend."

Coffee in Cameroon

While 70% of its population is involved in farming, the importance of agriculture in Cameroon, and the coffee sector in particular as measured by its contribution to GDP has decreased dramatically since the late 1980’s. This is mainly the result of a sharp drop in the price of coffee, following the liberalisation of the country’s coffee sector at the end of the 1980s. Prior to liberalisation, producers received a guaranteed price, paid by the Office National de Commercialisation des Produits de Base (ONCPB). When the world market price of coffee fell after the discontinuation of the International Coffee Agreements, the ONCPB was no longer able to cover the subsidies, and producers began receiving only half of what they had been given before. Cameroonian production declined from 120,000Mt in the mid-eighties to about 34,000Mt today.

Challenges

Expensive fertilisers

While we can only speculate on the causes, it is clear from regional price information that fertilisers are very expensive in Cameroon. Import tax is low at 5%, but still fertiliser in Cameroon is far more expensive than in other countries in the area. As a result, less than 5% of farmers currently use fertilisers, and production has decreased significantly as many coffee fields suffer from inadequate nutrient management.

Young people don’t want to become farmers

While Cameroon’s population is composed of a relatively high number of young people (more than 40% below 15 years of age), only a small percentage opts to work as coffee farmers. Most young people prefer to search for a job in urban regions, as this offers them more opportunities for comparable incomes.

Lack of services

Liberalisation has resulted in the demise of the extension service, and farmers therefore lack training and information on good agricultural practices. Interest rates and collateral requirements are too high for farmers to access formal sources of credit. Moreover, socially-oriented programmes and institutions are not widely dispersed throughout the country. The resulting lack of credit makes that farmers have little option to financially invest in crop management. This absence of services had a direct impact on productivity.

Organisation

Also officially many farmers are organized in cooperatives, many of these do not function properly. In fact, many farmers are hesitant to participate in official organizations because they don’t expect it to be beneficial for them. The lack of organization makes it difficult for farmers to efficiently participate in the value chain since logistics for buyers are troublesome if they have to work with individuals

Repercussions of pests and disease

The Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) is widespread on most of Cameroon’s farms, and often accounts for a yield loss ranging between 40 to 60%.  Stem borer is also a pest problem which is present on almost 50% of farms. High costs and lack of available chemicals is limiting the effective control of pests and diseases. Furthermore, farmers have limited access to the CBD-resistant variety of Java.

Role of the DE Foundation

2008-2013

The project in Cameroon aims at increasing the productivity and availability of coffee. The DE Foundation has initiated the project in collaboration with Olam Cam  (an international exporting company), NCCB (the National Coffee and Cocoa Board, a governmental organisation that supervises the marketing of coffee) and Kuit Consultancy (a Dutch-based project development and management company).

Six to eight times a year, farmers participate in one day of training in Farmer Field Schools. Here, they receive theoretical and practical instruction on proper agricultural practices, and get the chance to increase their skills with respect to nutrient management, shade management and pest and disease pressure, using sustainable farming methods. Farmers are also encouraged to improve their cooperation with other farmers in order to facilitate market access.

Ambitions

In the next few years, the DE Foundation would like to involve more farmers in the Farmer Field Schools, and improve farmers’ access to credit. Local and/or international banks will be involved for the development of savings, micro-finance and loan schemes. Further organisation of the farmers will extend the role of farmer groups to include increasing responsibility for value addition and logistics.