actu UESeptember 4, 2026

Cocoa farmers in southern Cameroon are changing how they grow and document their crops as they prepare for a European Union rule on deforestation-free cocoa. The regulation will require cocoa and cocoa products imported into the European Union to be free of deforestation, fully traceable, and legally produced. In the village of Ekombitié, around forty growers met to discuss agroforestry practices. The report says they are ready to comply, but they are also worried about falling cocoa prices and want a fairer return for the extra work.

The pressure is both environmental and economic. Farmers described efforts to keep useful trees in cocoa plots, protect medicinal and fruit trees, improve pruning, and revive old farms rather than clear land. Paul Mbarga Junior, who farms one hectare, said his plantation is in an area where loggers had already cut timber. Village chief Issah Naimuaforkang Kinyui said better agroforestry and farming methods helped raise his annual output from three to ten sacks of cocoa on four hectares.

But prices have dropped sharply. The article says cocoa reached six thousand C F A francs per kilogram in some producing areas during the twenty twenty-three to twenty twenty-four season. According to Cameroon’s National Cocoa and Coffee Board, it reached up to five thousand four hundred C F A francs in the following season. On July ninth this year, it traded between two thousand seven hundred fifty and two thousand eight hundred fifty C F A francs per kilogram.

Cooperatives are also preparing. Bernadette Ondobo, vice president of the Scoops-PROCAM cooperative, said farmers are already producing certified cocoa that protects the environment, people, and the cocoa bean. The World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, is helping cooperatives understand the European rules, map farms, prepare land documents, and build traceability systems. Field staff said geolocation and proof of ownership are central, so buyers can know where cocoa comes from and who produced it.

For the farmers, the central concern is clear. If European standards demand higher-quality cocoa and more documentation, they want those efforts to lead to better earnings.