Coffee farmers in Kupe Muanenguba in the South West region of Cameroon have adopted, with spontaneous enthusiasm, this radically innovative technology of processing coffee beans using a wet mill or washing station, as opposed to the traditional sun-drying process used since the start of coffee farming in the region close to 100 years ago.

For farmers usually averse to major innovations within their livelihood environments, the Muambong results achieved so far of the national pilot project on fully washed coffee should nevertheless be surprising. One reason for this unfolding success is that Chede, as proxy executing agency for the project in the South West region, enjoys unalloyed credibility within the farming community hosting the washed coffee pilot project in Kupe Muanenguba by virtue of its track record in the management of coffee campaigns and honest marketing and payment of farmers’ produce. The second reason concerns the capacity-building and awareness-raising campaigns Chede has organized to date in the pilot zone on the washed coffee project and its potential benefits to coffee farmers, including quality premiums. The third reason has to do with the quality differences the farmers themselves have observed between washed coffee, on the one hand, and sun-dried coffee, on the other. The coffee cupping workshop organized in Muambong last year by Café Africa International, one of the executing agencies of the pilot project, served to confirm those quality differences to coffee producers within the Chede village cooperative network.

Lessons deriving so far from the current campaign suggest the need for a more robust type of wet mill. The type currently installed in Muambong is somewhat fragile and of low capacity – less than 800 kg per hour, compared to a more desirable capacity of about 3 tonnes per hour. Furthermore, the new wet processing technology appears to be labour-harvest intensive because it requires that only fully ripe cherry should be plucked from coffee trees, meaning almost daily harvests, as opposed to the traditional method of harvesting both red and green cherry once or twice during the entire coffee season. In general, farmers seem to appreciate the merits of the new technology and processes, particularly with respect to the inconveniences avoided from having to dry their coffee and waiting for a month or more to receive cash for their produce compared to receiving cash upon delivery of their fresh cherry.

The overall conclusion at this stage is that the national pilot project on fully washed coffee in Cameroon is very successful so far at its Muambong Centre in the South West region. This unfolding success would justify plans for an extension phase managed by Chede and covering the entire South West region and appropriate neighbouring sites in the Moungo Division.

Download the project summary (in French): Projet Pilote Café Lavé (PDF – 86Kb)

French version: Le mouvement international du commerce équitable et les perspectives pour les organisations paysannes camerounaises (PDF – 380Kb)

• La recherche et la mobilisation des ressources pour les financements des activités socioculturelles et économiques dans le Cameroun profond.
• La sensibilisation du public français sur les conditions dans les campagnes camerounaises et africaines et la recherche de l’assistance aux projets des coopératives agricoles et infrastructures de bases dans les villages.
• La formation et le perfectionnement technique des cadres et agents des coopératives sur la normalisation, la démarche qualité et le développement durable.
• Le développement de l’importation et la distribution en France de produits issus des villages camerounais et africains.
• La promotion des investissements français en Afrique en faveur de l’agriculture paysanne.

L’ESCAIA a été créée en 1978 à l’initiative de la Confédération Française de la Coopération Agricole à Paris, puis transférée à Montpellier en 2005. Elle est actuellement le centre national de formation des futurs cadres des entreprises et groupes coopératifs du secteur agroalimentaire.

Dans le cadre de son développement, l’ESCAIA s’est installé en 2006 dans des locaux spécialement aménagés et situés au 1er étage de l’ancienne Cave Coopérative de Montpellier, laquelle a été entièrement rénovée pour l’occasion (showroom, salles de réunion, de dégustation, vaste parking…). Les étudiants bénéficient ainsi d’un cadre et d’un lieu au confort exceptionnel et favorable à des études intensives.

L’école, située à Montpellier, au bord de la méditerranée, bénéficie d’un pôle universitaire d’une renommée internationale autour d’Agropolis : agronomie, biotechnologie, nutrition/santé, économie agroalimentaire. L’ESCAIA s’appuie largement sur le réseau coopératif grâce notamment, au partenariat mis en place avec la Fédération Régionale de la Coopération Agricole du Languedoc-Roussillon.

The grant was utilized between November 2009 and April 2010 in accordance with the grant agreement signed between MINADER 2P3C and Chede Cooperative Union Ltd.  Agreed inputs were procured and distributed to Chede member groups shown in the table below.

However, the inputs proved patently inadequate relative to the farming needs of the beneficiary groups. Accordingly, in its report to the Vice Prime Minister in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development on the implementation of the grant, Chede Cooperative Union relayed the collective plea of its member groups involved in cocoa and coffee production to have the amount of the next grant in 2010 significantly increased, and to cover the cost of building a concrete and secure produce warehouse in Muambong.

The inputs distributed to member groups must be considered as credit or pre-financing at subsidized costs (25 per cent below retail selling costs). By the terms of the agreement signed with the Pilot Programme, Chede is expected to constitute an input revolving fund from  payments for the inputs to be made by the beneficiary groups after the sale of their produce (cocoa and coffee) through Chede commercial channels.  Preliminary estimates of the impact of the Pilot Programme suggest a significant value for money in the order of 5 times the value of the grant at farm-gate price in 2010 with respect to coffee, for example.

2009 2P3C Grant beneficiaries under Chede Cooperative Union Ltd

With this new development, Chede intends to make maize production a sustained annual activity within its village network of farmer organizations for subsistence and income generation.  Local and international development actors interested in boosting food security in Cameroon are welcome to join forces with Chede Cameroon in this and other ventures that tackle the root causes of hunger in villages and cities.