24,000 tonnes of cocoa sold in Lékié

More than 24,000 tonnes of cocoa was marketed in the Lékié Department during the past two cocoa years.

Sales have tripled, although, according to professionals of the sector, the figures could have been better, if it were not for the "coxage", clandestine purchase of cocoa.

"It is a 'fool's' game. Economic criminals come sourcing in the countryside, convinced that they deceive the producers, some naive cacao producers, reduce the weight of their product by introducing strange kilos," explained Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana. Consequently: "It affects the quality of cocoa and benefits nobody," said the Minister.

On Wednesday in Monatélé, the evaluation meeting for the implementation of the programme of Support for the Commercialization Organization (AOC) of the Interprofessional Council of Cocoa and Coffee (ICCC) helped to make the point in the Lékié Department. It was also an opportunity to understand the keys to the success of this operation aimed at structuring the producer organisations.

First, it was to organize grouped sales of products to ensure more revenue to producers. 426 organized markets took place in the marketing year 2013/2014 for 6258 tons sold. While 303 markets were held, sales by tender and agreements allowed the marketing of 18153 tonnes of cocoa.

This period, the price per kilogram of the highest cocoa was 1515 FCFA. For Mincommerce who chaired the meeting, "this price should be generalized throughout the Department. The idea is that producers can live from their activity and continue to attract young people in the activity."

The other strong point of the program, according to Apollinaire Ngwe, president of the ICCC was that: "professionalization was to put farmers in a group in order to weigh on the market and sell cocoa of quality at the best price. It was also to set up a system of collecting reliable statistics for more traceability in marketing."