Coffee production falls in Cameroon, again

The current coffee farming season in Cameroon is set to record a 50% reduction in produce when compared to the documented harvests of last year, and many within the industry are placing the blame at the feet of governmental policies that are rooted as far back as the early 1990s, allafrica.com reports.

According to figures released by the International Cocoa and Coffee Council (CICC), yields from the 2012-13 period came in at a fraction over 16,000 tons which represented a severe decline on the total of 38,000 tons that had been recorded in previous harvesting periods. Profits have been squeezed and the incomes of the coffee farmers have naturally dropped since their halcyon decades of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

“In 1990, we exported 1560,000 tons,” says Omer Gatien Maledy, the executive secretary of the CICC, whilst highlight the disparity of previous years and current produce. The deterioration of the coffee industry has been severe: Cameroon once was ranked the 12^th biggest producer of coffee in the world, now they sit 31^st.

Experts offer a number of reasons as to why the sector is lagging: changes in climate have brought about longer wet seasons; the cost of fertilisers  have increased and large scale areas dedicated to farming has decreased, not to mention the alleged abandonment of the industry through a lack of technical support and grants led offered by the government. And the infrastructure is said to be problematic at best: “A lot of coffee was abandoned in the farms because access roads were not maintained,” claimed Ngewo Thomas, a farmer and exporter in Nkongsamba.

Thankfully, to some degree at least, the CICC believe that the problems have been identified and the majority can be reversed, but only if there is the political will to do so. Currently the Cameroonian government are liaising with their Brazilian counterparts in order to learn more about what practises could be implemented, but more similar steps will need to be taken.

“World demand for coffee is constantly on the rise,” Maldey commented, referencing that the continuously increasing desire for coffee across the world represents an opportunity for Cameroon to reclaim past glory.

“We have a huge opportunity in Cameroon and it will be unfortunate if we don’t benefit from the situation,” he stated. 

photo: jbdodane (flickr, used under creative commons)