Today October 20, 2020, Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, and his peer in charge of agriculture and rural development, Gabriel Mbairobe will inaugurate a cocoa Post-Harvest Treatment Centre of Excellence in Lembe-Yezoum, in the central region. A similar operation is scheduled for October 22, 2020, in Ntui, also in the central region.
With the two centers of excellence, the number of such centers built in the country by the national coffee and cocoa board (NCCB) in Cameroon will rise to six (6). “This activity is a component of the Cocoa of Excellence program. It is perfectly in line with the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed on November 8, 2017, between the NCCB and the Confederation of French Chocolate and Confectionery Manufacturers. This MoU was aimed at improving the quality and taste of Cameroonian cocoa, to enhance its value on the international market,” the NCCB explains.
The said centers are equipped with specific fermentation, drying, and storage equipment as well as a strict cocoa quality controlling system. Thanks to the center, the cocoa produced has virtually zero-defect.
With such cocoa, producers receive substantial bonuses (compared with the price paid for ordinary cocoa beans) making the remuneration worth their efforts. According to official sources, the first production to come out of those excellence centers during the 2019-2020 cocoa season was sold to French chocolate producers at XAF1,650 per kilogram on average while the ordinary cocoa beans were sold at XAF1,300 on average.
