2015-2016 Cocoa Campaign launched in Ayos

Of the 23,530,740 kg of cocoa produced, 195,129,727 Kg was exported and 32,127,984 processed locally. Clearly, the harvest is good on behalf of the 2014-2015 cocoa season.

To mark the launch of the 2015-2016 campaign, last Friday in Ayos, Trade Minister (MINCOMMERCE), Luc Magloire Atangana Mbarga expressed his satisfaction with producers and even the various bodies in charge of the cocoa sector, including the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) and the Interprofessional Council of Cocoa and Coffee (Cicc).

If the production and marketing of cocoa have improved reaching a record, the fact remains that the way to meet the course requirements of the international market is still far. In the light of the 2015/2016 campaign, the Minister Luc Magloire Atangana Mbarga prescribed a series of measures to build on the achievements of the previous season.

He asked each party (administrative authorities, producers, and Cicc NCCB) to play their role. The administrative authorities were called to watch over postharvest processing routes, schedule markets and agreement between buyers and producers. Also to place emphasis on the recollection of the records of the cocoa beans of the past month and purchases by buyers.

Producer organizations were advised to organize market placement of cocoa by ensuring best practices such as phytosanitary treatment, fermentation and drying of the beans.

At the NCCB and Cicc, it was recommended that efficient synergy marketing operations should be upheld through densification of the deployment of auditors’ agents in the production areas and the transactions and statistics of communication for even marketing.

In general, the MINCOMMERCE prescribed the intensification of good practices in fermentation and drying of cocoa beans, the operationalization of local cocoa processing projects, securing farmers in the certification process and optimization of the platform for public-private partnership.

The Ministers of Public Works Mr. Patrice Amba Salla and Clémentine Ananga Messina, Minister Delegate to the MINADER were participants of the ceremony.