Farmers record better yields through ‘green cocoa’ best practices

Cocoa farmers in Mintom, South Region, have recorded marked improvements in cocoa production and sale between 2021 and 2022, as they have adopted best agricultural practices like farm care, cocoa tree prunning and cocoa under shade. This is thanks to training provided by WWF through the Green Commodity Landscape Project, GCLP, implemented on the field since 2021, and supported by other technical partners like Rainforest Alliance.

WWF has provided training to cocoa farmers’ cooperative SOCOCAM COOPCA comprising 90 members. Their yields moved from 21 tons in 2021 to 40 tons in 2022.

To enable the cooperative sell at a good price, WWF collaborated with Rainforest Alliance to connect the farmers to TELCAR Cocoa Company, one of the most credible cocoa buyers in Cameroon. The SCOOP-PROCAM cooperative registered a sale amounting to nearly 2.5 million FCFA in 2022 against 1.5 million FCFA of premium quality obtained in 2021.

In an effort to continuously build the capacity of farmers, WWF supported the training of 100 farmers between June and December 2022 on good agricultural practices. WWF engaged the services of partner NGO, CIFED that trained 25 members of SCOOPS-PROCAM cooperative. Following this initial training, WWF field staff dedicated to working with farmers within the context of the GCLP replicated the training, touching 75 farmers in five villages (Lélé, Zoébefam, Nkolomboula, Bindom and Zoulabot). The training dwelled on post-harvest management of cocoa, manufacturing of fermentation tanks and traditional dryers.
 
NTFPs
To increase the revenue of local people involved in the collection and sale of non-timber forest products, WWF team has maintained permanent communication with municipal authorities of Djoum and Mintom and shares with them information and landscape market opportunities. Thanks to this collaboration, the Mintom Multi-stakeholder platform put in place with the support of WWF, successfully engaged with a promising NTFPs buyer GIC PALUCH (Promotion Agricole de Lutte contre le Chômage et la pauvreté). This first year collaboration between GIC PALUCH and the SCOOPS EX-PFNL cooperative enabled them to sell eight bags of 100 Kg of bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis) for the profit of their members.