Cameroon coffee exports drop significantly

Cameroon is one of the few African countries which grow both arabica and robusta coffee

Xinhua News Agency via Coast Week

November 5, 2011

Countryside near Ngaoundal in Cameroon’s Adamawa Province. 

Photo: Coast Week/Wikipedia

YAOUNDE (Xinhua) -- There has been a significant decline in Cameroon coffee exports in 2010/11 compared to the previous season, with arabica coffee - whose season has already ended - falling by 25 per cent and that of robusta coffee by 31 per cent during the first 10 months, according to official statistics from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) on Tuesday evening.

Cameroon is one of the few African countries that grows both arabica and robusta coffee.

Arabica coffee is grown only in the high plateau regions of the West and North-West, where it is the main source of income and livelihood, while robusta coffee is cultivated in the West, South-West, Littoral, Center, South, East and Adamawa regions.

The arabica coffee season in the Central African country runs from October to September, with production peaking in April-June, although no exports were recorded in the month of September this year for the first time ever.

According to the official data, only 2,372 tons of the product were exported from the country in 2010/11, down from 3,159 tons in the previous season or a drop of 24.9 percent, while the number of exporters also fell drastically from 17 to eight.

Olam Cam was the leading exporter with 1,103 tons, followed by Ets West Hills with 535 tons, UCCAO with 310 tons, CAFF-Cam Sarl with 180 tons and the North-West Cooperative Association (NWCA) Ltd with 103 tons.

On the other hand, the robusta coffee season runs from December to November, with output peaking in March to June.

The official data shows that during the first 10 months of the ongoing season, only 28,432 tons were exported, down from 41,121 tons for the same period in 2009/10 or a drop of 30.8 percent.

Similarly, the number of exporters has fallen from 24 to 18 while Olam Cam remains the leading exporter with 11,449 tons so far.

It is followed by Novel Cameroun SA with 4,291 tons, UTI with 3,712 tons and Nealiko Enterprise with 3,489 tons.

In a telephone interview with Xinhua from Bamenda in the North- West, NWCA Ltd general manager Christopher Mbah said the region accounts for close to 80 per cent of arabica coffee produced in Cameroon which has been rising steadily in the past three to four years.

"I can tell you that the North-West is responsible for about 80 percent of the total arabica coffee produced in Cameroon every year and production has been going up in recent years due to high prices on the world market.

"In fact, we roughly estimate total production now about 5,000 tons from this region only," he said.

"But the sector is facing a number of problems including mainly the collapse of the cooperative system following brutal liberalization in the mid-1990s.

"We no more have enough money to continue training and educating growers on good farming, harvesting and semi-processing practices, collect and market the crop, resulting in the rapid and massive entry of many private operators whose goal is to make maximum profit within the shortest possible time.

"The situation is aggravated by the very poor road infrastructure, which makes most of the remote areas totally inaccessible especially during the rainy season (eight months).

"This has made it more expensive for farmers to take their produce to domestic market centers, and encouraged massive smuggling into Nigeria by both the farmers themselves and buyers."

Also speaking, Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) chief of operations Andre Marie Lema confirmed produce smuggling into the western giant neighbor and promised to work with the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) and the authorities to seek a solution to the problem.

"Indeed, farm-to-market roads is a major challenge in a basically agricultural economy like ours and must be among the top priorities of the government," he said.

He would not give any figure on arabica coffee production - as well as robusta coffee, this season, saying all that will be handled when the new (2011/2012) season will be officially launched in January.

Once Cameroon’s largest agricultural export commodity, coffee production hit an all-time high of 132,000 tons in 1986 (of which 107,000 were exported) but declined sharply to 43,000 tons in 2008 (33,000 exported) due to steep and prolonged decline in world market prices, brutal liberalization, aging plantations and farmers, weak on-farm extension services, and lack of investment.