Nearly a year after its public presentation, the Producers’ Window of the Cocoa and Coffee Development Fund is about to supply its first beneficiaries.
“The development of the Producers’ Window is being carried out through a database of cocoa and coffee producers in Cameroon. This database contains information on the identity of producers, the geo-referencing of plots, the quantitative state of the orchard, the age of the plants.,” explained the administrator.
The Guichet is open to all producers, subject to the double condition of being able to co-finance the agricultural investment and to be connected to digital technology. Here, it is the producer who triggers the acquisition process by mobilising his majority share of 60 to 70%. The Fodecc then releases 30-40% of the subsidy to each producer. Another condition is that the bank account must have an amount equal to or greater than the amount of the e-voucher or e-voucher requested for the purchase of inputs from a local distributor.
Three types of subsidies classified in two main categories are concerned by the Producer Gateway. The first concerns mass subsidies consisting of agricultural inputs (fertilisers, seeds, seedlings and phytosanitary products). This category is open to all cocoa and coffee producers without discrimination. This includes about 600,000 producers with areas ranging from 200 m2 to 10 hectares, according to official figures.
Categories 2 and 3 cover agricultural equipment and machinery, as well as production support infrastructure. These types of subsidies are à la carte and require a different form of organisation and somewhat more stringent conditions, including the submission of a business plan.
The government’s objective is to increase national cocoa production to 640,000 tonnes by 2030, compared to 257,151 tonnes in the 2019-2020 season. For coffee, the target production is 160,000 tonnes, compared to 22,000 tonnes currently.