development
projects
location Cameroon date June 2010 – March 2012 project team Charles Agwanda
reviving the coffee industry in Cameroon by improving quality Image courtesy of the International Trade Centre
Coffee is an important cash crop for small-scale farmers in Cameroon, it increases incomes and provides much needed foreign exchange for the country.
so what’s the problem? For various reasons, production has declined in Cameroon – dropping from 90,000 tonnes in the early 1990’s to about 35,000 tonnes in 2009. Equally quality, which depends on good agricultural practices and primary processing, has also declined. In October 2009, the Government of Cameroon adopted a National Strategic Plan for Coffee Developed through the support of the International Trade Center (ITC) in Geneva. The plan lays strong emphasis on value and quality addition through wet processing of coffee to produce washed or fully washed Arabica and Robusta coffees. The benefits associated with this approach were confirmed by a study commissioned by the World Bank under the framework of the All ACP Agricultural Commodities Program (AAACP).
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
what is this project doing? With funding from the World Bank, CABI provided technical assistance to support introduction of centralized pulping units in Cameroon in order to enhance coffee quality. This technical support involved identifying appropriate equipment for coffee pulping, assisting with purchase of equipment and installing Central Pulping Units (CPU’s) at four pilot sites in Cameroon. Technical staff were also trained to operate these washing stations and management committees were established at each site.
results so far In 2010, a national project steering committee was established, and preliminary studies were conducted in preparation for setting up centralized pulping units in the four locations in Cameroon. The team selected the areas for the pilot studies and undertook socioeconomic studies to mark the baseline. The project team has also provided technical assistance to purchase equipment for the project. A total of 17.2 tonnes clean coffee of fully washed Arabica and 18.7 tonnes clean coffee of fully washed Robusta has so far been produced through the four pilot sites and sold at an average price premium of 25%.
www.cabi.org/coffeerevitalization partners Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cameroon Chede Cooperative Union Coopérative Agricole des Planteurs de la Mifi (CAPLAMI) Union des GIC et Coopératives des Planteurs de MBOANZ (UGCP) Projet d’Appui à la Compétitivité Agricole (PACA) Cocoa and Coffee Inter-professional Board (CICC) Office National du Cacao et du Café (ONCC) sponsors World Bank
contact CABI, ICRAF Complex, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 633-00621, Nairobi, Kenya T: +254 20 72 24450 F: +254 20 71 22150 E: africa@cabi.org www.cabi.org/africa
ID-CAMCOFFEE-06-12
Charles Agwanda, Project Manager