Cameroon: Relevance of the cocoa sector1

With a total production of about 220,000 MT and a total planting area of

approximately 500,000 ha (Office of the Prime Minister 2014: 38), Cameroon is the fifths
largest cocoa producer. It is estimated that the South-western and the Centre regions produce
about 40% of Cameroon’s cocoa each, whereas the East and South produce the remaining
20% (UNCTAD 2010: 5).

Approximately 400,000 to 600,000 families are involved in cocoa growing (Drum

2012: 1, Int. 41). 95% of these are smallholder farmers with an average plot size of 2.5 to 5
ha (Int. 41). Farmers produce around 300 to 400 kg of dried cocoa beans per ha (UNCTAD
2010: 5). Only an estimated 20-30% of farmers are members of producer organisations.
Existing “groupements d’intérêt commun” (producer organisations; GIC) are reported to have
been set up only as a means to receive government project funds.

Farmers sell mostly to so-called “assiers or coxeurs” (intermediaries) which can

either be independent or cooperate with larger buyers (Abbott 2013: 261). Over 80% of
Cameroon’s export market is dominated by three large multinational exporters,
Telcar/Cargill, Olam (including ADM), and Sic Cacaos/Barry Callebaut. Only approximately
15% of cocoa beans are processed in Cameroon (Office of the Prime Minister 2014: 68). Out
of these approximately 32,000 MT locally processed, 31 MT are processed by local artisans
into cocoa powder and butter and some of it into cosmetic products. Although still
embryonic, this market has tripled from 2013/14 (CICC 2015: 10).

Certification has only recently started in Cameroon (according to numbers from

standards less than 10,000 MT in 2014), but is expected to increase the value of Cameroonian
cocoa and is seen by a number of stakeholders as an important strategy for the future (Int. 44,
49).

Institutional framework

The cocoa sector in Cameroon was completely liberalised in the mid-1990s. The
“Office National de Café et Cacao” (National Coffee and Cocoa Board; ONCC) coordinates
and facilitates the sector, including control of cocoa bean quality for export, promoting

1
Friedel Hütz-Adams et al, December 31st, 2016, Strengthening the competitiveness of cocoa production and
improving the income of cocoa producers in West and Central Africa, SÜDWIND e.V. Kaiserstr. 201 53113
Bonn, Germany Phone: +49 (0)228-763698-0, info@suedwind-institut.de, www.suedwind-institut.de, p. 30
Cameroon origin cocoa, collecting statistics for commercialisation and representing the
Cameroonian cocoa sector internationally (Int. 52, 54).

The different market actors are represented in the “Conseil Interprofessionnel du

Cacao et du Café” (Inter-Professional Council for Cocoa and Coffee; CICC): farmers,
buyers, transformers, exporters. The CICC is funded by levies on cocoa exports (10 XAF/kg).
Its mission is to control quality at the farm gate. The CICC implements programmes to
develop a new generation of farmers, develop strategies to adapt to climate change, support
farmers in getting access to finance, promote good agricultural practices, etc. (Int. 53).

At the level of the government, several ministries are involved in the cocoa sector (ONCC
2014a): The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) is responsible for
the production level and implements six different cocoa projects funded by the “Fonds de
Développement des Filières Cacao et Café” (Fund for the Development of the cocoa and
coffee sectors; FODECC). Coordination between individual projects is low (Int. 50). Under
the MINADER, the “Société de Développement du Cacao” (Development Corporation of
Cocoa; SODECAO) is responsible for seedlings production and originally also for the
maintenance of rural roads and infrastructure. However, SODECAO is in need of reforms
(Int. 46, 48, 52, 54).

The Ministry of Trade is responsible for commercialisation of cocoa and implements

three cocoa projects. Whereas two projects focus on construction of warehouses and drying
ovens, the third one focuses on price information. The SIF-project (système d’information
des filières cacao et café, information system for the cocoa and coffee sectors)2 informs
farmers about daily cocoa prices by text message (Int. 47, 48, 49, 53). The Ministry of Trade
fixes levies at 150 XAF/kg for exporting cocoa beans, and at 75 XAF/kg for exporting
processed cocoa (Int. 49).

The FODECC under the Ministry of Finance funds projects at the different ministries.
It is reported to have a budget of 50 billion XAF (approximately 76 million EUR) in 2016
coming from levies on cocoa. A coordination unit for the coffee and cocoa sectors exists at
the level of the Office of the Prime Minister (Int. 47, 49). In 2014, it developed the “Plan de
relance et de développement des filières cacao et café du Cameroun-Horizon 2020” (Coffee
and Cocoa Recovery Plan-Horizon 2020). The objective in terms of cocoa production
quantity is set at 600,000 MT by 2020 (Office of the Prime Minister 2014: 44). The recovery

2
http://sifcameroun.org/index.php/fr/presentation-du-projet-sif.
plan suggests a series of actions to revive research, production, processing and
commercialisation of cocoa (Office of the Prime Minister 2014: 23-24, Int. 49). The plan also
foresees for Cameroon to return to a stabilised system with a guaranteed minimum price,
which has not been equally well received by all stakeholders. It was agreed that a study be
undertaken to learn from different stabilisation efforts in other countries (Int. 49, 53).

Particularities of the Cameroonian cocoa sector

Cameroon’s cocoa beans are different from other West African beans. They have a
darker, more reddish colour and a specific flavour which tends to be preferred by European
cocoa processing companies (UNCTAD 2001: 13). However, overall quality of Cameroonian
beans is judged as low mainly due to difficult climate conditions (high rainfall) and bad post-
harvest practices (defective drying ovens) (Agritrade 2013, Int. 53).

Cameroon’s cocoa sector is completely liberalised which means that world market
prices influence farm gate prices directly. Due to its inferior quality, Cameroonian cocoa is
traded at a discount of roughly 100 GBP per MT to Ghanaian beans at world markets
(UNCTAD 2010: 9). Producer price as percentage of ICCO daily price has consistently been
above 60% for farmers in Cameroon and even above 80% during the 2009 to 2011 seasons.

Some producer organisations organise auctions at their headquarters during harvest

season to which they invite major buyers (UNCTAD 2010: 16). However, the majority of
unorganised farmers negotiate prices at the farm gate. The price depends on the bargaining
power of the seller relative to the buyer, a subjective check of the cocoa’s quality and the
world market price. In reality, farmers are mostly price takers (Fule 2013: 11).

Relatively few development partners are active in Cameroon’s cocoa sector. The
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is active with two projects,
the Sustainable Smallholder Agribusiness (SSAB) project and the Green Innovation Centres
for the Agriculture and Food Sector of the BMZ’s Special Initiative “ONEWORLD No
hunger”. Furthermore, the European Union supports the cocoa sector in Cameroon (Int. 53).
On the level of projects by the private sector, Cameroon lacks behind other countries. The
World Cocoa Foundation’s Cocoa Action initiative is not active in Cameroon yet.

Strengths and weaknesses

Below is a table presenting the strengths and weaknesses of the cocoa sector in Cameroon.
Table 9: Strengths and weaknesses of the Cameroonian cocoa sector

Strengths Weaknesses

Medium importance of the cocoa sector for

the countries’ economy and tax income

Comparatively high farm gate price due to High volatility of farm gate price
liberalised system

Specific flavour and colour of beans which Uncertainty of stakeholders due to potentially
are used in many recipes changing cocoa policy

Existence of an “Interprofession” as interest Several ministries and public agencies

group involved (in sector policy and project
implementation) and lack of functioning
coordination mechanism

Incipient local processing of cocoa products

and development of local and regional
market

Low quality cocoa due to bad post-harvest

practices which results in a discount for
Cameroonian cocoa

Insufficient agricultural extension services

provided through projects by a variety of
public agencies and ministries

Insufficient inputs provided by a variety of

public agencies and ministries

Market dominated by a small number of

buyers

Low degree of organisation of farmers

Few donor projects and very few

sustainability involvements of companies
(compared to other countries)
 No access to financial services for farmers

Cocoa is generally produced within Generally, ageing farmers, ageing trees, low
agroforestry systems, which is more productivity and high risk due to climate
sustainable than in other countries. change

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Countries are able to enjoy the consumption of goods in which they have a production
disadvantage through trade, while specialising in those goods in which they have a
comparative advantage (Irwin, 1996). It is in this light that Cameroon tends to produce and
export agricultural products particularly cocoa, coffee and cotton amongst others. The
country’s vast agricultural resources, population and the favourable natural conditions
provide it with this comparative advantage (Noula, Linyong & Munchunga, 2013). Cocoa
provides a source of livelihood, not only to Cameroon, but also to over 50 countries across
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (Kaplinsky, 2004). The internal and external
factors relating to any given country are responsible for the productivity, growth and
competitiveness of the agricultural sector of said country. These internal factors comprise of
physical, technological, micro and macroeconomic as well as policy related issues, while
world prices and trade policies in the international market are examples of external factors.
The competitive performance of any economic sector, industry or firm, including the
agricultural sector is therefore determined by the manner in which these factors are handled
(Porter, 1990; Porter, 1998; Oluoch-Kosura & Sikei, 2013). Cameroon’s cocoa industry
operates in such an “open trade” environment.

The cocoa industry of Cameroon has witnessed a series of fluctuations since 1961,
resulting from physical, political as well as macroeconomic policy changes. This fluctuating
performance can be accounted for by events such as the period of independence, economic
restructuring and the discovery of crude oil in the mid- to late 1970s, economic crises and the
deregulation of the sector among others. In order to deal with these fluctuations and improve
on the performance of the industry, the government of Cameroon has implemented various
reform policies including the “modernization program” launched in 2006 (Fule, 2013), the
Sustainable Tree Crop Programme (STCP) and the UPCOCOA project which was established
in 2006. In addition, extension services in the form of the farmer field school (FFS) and the
integrated pest management program (IPM) have also been established (KIT, 2010). The
most recent project is the “New Generation” program launched in 2012 by the
Interprofessional Council for Cocoa and Coffee (CCIC) whose objective is to rejuvenate both
the labour force and cocoa plantations in Cameroon. Despite the recent efforts by the
government to improve on the performance of the cocoa sector, negative trade arrangements
such as the European Union’s rejection of 2 000 tons of cocoa in 2013 and adverse climatic
conditions have continued to hinder the growth of the sector. Although the sector faces some
challenges, it remains the fifth largest producer of cocoa in the world market. It is for this
reason that this study seeks to carry out a comprehensive analysis to determine the industry’s
competitive performance over this period and identify the factors that hinder and promote the
competitive performance of the industry.

Freebairn (1986) defines competitiveness as a firm or industry’s ability to deliver

products to both domestic and international markets at a price as good or better than other
suppliers, while earning at least the opportunity costs of returns on resources employed and,
as such, is able to attract scarce resources such as land, human capital, labour and capital
from other economic activities. As stipulated in this definition, competitiveness is influenced
by both domestic and international factors. This definition will be adopted in the context of
the Cameroonian cocoa industry to determine its competitive performance in the domestic
and international markets.

A number of studies have been carried out on the economics of the Cameroonian
cocoa industry (Dada, 2007; Nyemeck et al., 2008; Kandem et al., 2010; Kandem, 2012;
Tosam and Njimanted, 2013; Kimengsi and Azibo, 2015 etc.) however, and this defines the
core problem attended to in this study, none of these studies focused or viewed
competitiveness as an important factor, as well as how it relates to global trade. A
comprehensive view of the competitive performance of the industry pertaining to the long-
term trends and performance of the industry, as well as the factors responsible for such
performance, is vital to better understand the cocoa industry and support challenge to
formulate strategies to improve the performance of the industry.

This study takes a comprehensive view of competitiveness, i.e. defining, measuring

and analysing the “competitiveness performance of the Cameroonian cocoa industry”. In
evaluating the competitiveness of the industry, the study will assess trade performance of the
cocoa industry since independence in the 1960s to date. This period will take into account the
period of the liberalisation of trade and the devaluation of the FCFA (local currency) in the
mid-1990s as well as the state of the industry 20 years after the economic depression of
Cameroon. This period was chosen in order to reflect the performance of the industry under
the different agricultural policies that have been implemented by the government.

The study will aim at identifying and analysing the constraints and promoting factors
of competitiveness and translate such findings into industry level strategies that could be used
to improve and sustain the competitiveness of the industry. Therefore, it will also be
important to involve industry role players and executives.

Cameroonian customs eyes CFA20bn+ in cocoa export taxes in 2023

Brice R. Mbodiam, Business in Cameroon, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 07:46

The Cameroonian Customs Administration (DGD) is expecting the newly-introduced cocoa

beans export tax to generate between CFA20 billion and CFA25 billion this year.

"The export of raw cocoa beans is subject to an autonomous exit duty at a rate of 10% of the
FOB value. This rate is 2% for cocoa beans exported to industrial free points or similar
systems," the 2023 finance law states. This new provision stems from a presidential
requirement contained in the letter on the preparation of the 2023 state budget signed on
August 23, 2022, by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya. The leader prescribed in
particular that the government should implement, as from 2023, "an export taxation policy
that takes into account the real level of processing of goods", to "further encourage exports of
finished manufactured made-in-Cameroon products.”
Reliable sources reported that the taxation of raw beans export in Cameroon follows many
complaints from grinders, most of whom now find it difficult to source beans on the local
market. This implies that the numerous investments made by the government to revive the
sector are still insufficient.

Indeed, despite the arrival on the local beans processing market of two new operators with a
grinding capacity of at least 80,000 tons, namely Atlantic Cocoa (48,000 tons expandable to
64,000 tons) and Neo Industry (32,000 tons), the cocoa sector in Cameroon remains
dominated by beans exports. Data compiled by the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCB)
show that bean exports for the 2021-2022 season (217,107 tons) represent two and a half
times the volume processed locally (86,850 tons).

To help narrow this gap, an operator suggested that the government further encourages the
rise of local processing factories through the introduction of a quota system.

Antoine Mani Tonye sinks his thumb into the red soil to gauge how deep to plant the next seedling.
The Cameroonian cocoa farmer has seen healthy yields and an improvement in his income since he
began planting a locally adapted seed variety developed in a laboratory in the capital Yaounde.

“In its first year, my nursery has been the best. This should get me out of poverty,” said Tonye, who
farms his own plot in the village of Azanzoa on the outskirts of Mbalmayo in central Cameroon.

“For now, I am doing better, I don't beg, I do my best, I manage to get by on my own. Farming is
going to become my passion.”

There are 600,000 cocoa farmers across Cameroon, and it is a vital sector for rural communities. But
cocoa is a fragile crop with yields that tend to decrease over time, putting farmers’ livelihoods at risk.
That’s why the African Development Bank has committed to provide funding to IRAD, the Institute
of Agriculture Research for Development, where research is focused on creating adapted seed
varieties.
The second-generation seed varieties developed by IRAD allow for an average yield of 2 tons per
hectare, compared to the first generation developed in the 1970s and 1980s that produced around 1 ton
per hectare.

“There has been great progress. In less than two decades, we have been able to double the yield
potential of the varieties that farmers now use,” said Bruno Efombagen, an IRAD researcher in
Yaounde.

Demand for the higher-yielding seeds has outstripped supply. To solve this problem, the African
Development Bank has supported IRAD in its efforts to make the seeds accessible to a greater number
of farmers. Across the country, IRAD is setting up more and more seed production fields.

A new seed variety called “Brazilian cacao” is now widely in use, providing far better yields to
Cameroonian farmers.

“Before, our parents used to grow a variety called “tout-venant”, but today, thanks to advances in
research, we have access to improved seeds,” said Samba MViena, Chairman of AKOM-COOP-CA, a
cooperative of farmers.  “You get the first yields 18 months after planting them, with flowers and a
few pods on some stems. After two or two-and-a-half years, or more precisely three years, you can
already get a perfect crop.”

The higher-quality cocoa seed varieties have helped to stem the migration of young people from rural
villages to seek work in the city. MViena’s cooperative has strong youth representation, with 62
young people in the group.

“Their decision to engage in the cacao sector stems from the availability of improved seeds, because
these seeds allow for quick and bountiful harvests,” he said.

Brazilian cacao not only provides far better yields to Cameroonian farmers, it benefits everyone in the
production chain. Trader Yannick Fosso buys cocoa from across the region and sells it in Cameroon’s
economic capital, Douala.

“The season runs from August to January. I make all my year’s earnings during those six months,” he
explained. “When you look at the plants, you can see that Brazilian cacao is a better variety than the
ones that our parents used to grow. Its colour is much brighter; the pods never get black, they are
entirely red. So when you brew it, it comes out with a very good colour and taste.”
Cocoa is Cameroon’s second export crop. The majority of the Central African nation’s annual output
of about 220,000 tons is shipped overseas from Douala’s Atlantic port.

For Fosso, part of the pride he takes in his work is in Cameroon’s improving reputation as a cocoa
exporter. “Cacao is a central part of the lives of the people here,” he said. “It’s rewarding to buy
something that is eaten across the world.”
Press Release: Cameroonian cocoa stakeholders sign a Roadmap towards sustainable
and deforestation-free cocoa

Through this commitment, signatories pledge to promote a sustainable cocoa sector, thereby
protecting the third largest forest range in the Congo Basin and improving the livelihoods of
up to 600,000 cocoa farmers in Cameroon.

13 January 2021, Yaoundé, Cameroon. 

The Roadmap comprises nine commitments, including promoting forest conservation and
restoration, enhancing cocoa productivity in the long term, and implementing cocoa full
traceability from farm gate to export port.

The implementation of the Roadmap commitments will be based on three main pillars: forest
protection and restoration, sustainable production and marketing of deforestation-free cocoa,
community engagement and social inclusion. 

Today, the Cameroon government, international development partners, the private sector and
civil society, signed a Framework for Action towards deforestation-free cocoa in Cameroon.
Through this agreement, the signatories commit to working together, both technically and
financially, towards the sustainable production and marketing of cocoa, the preservation and
rehabilitation of forests, and the inclusion of cocoa farming communities in Cameroon. The
signing ceremony took place in the presence of Gabriel Mbairobé, Minister of Agriculture
and Rural Development, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Minister of Trade, and
representatives from companies, farmer organizations, research institutes, and civil society
organizations. All of whom are signatories of the Roadmap to Deforestation-free Cocoa. Also
in attendance were technical and financial partners that have endorsed the
Roadmap.

The Roadmap will contribute to the conservation and, where necessary, restoration of the
permanent forest domain, and the conservation and sustainable management of forests in the
non-permanent forest domain. The Roadmap signatories will also enhance cocoa productivity
in the long term through, amongst other actions, rehabilitation of aging cocoa farms,
provision of improved seeds, or soil fertility interventions. They will work together to
implement full cocoa traceability from the farm gate to the port of export by 2025, to
strengthen respect for cocoa farmers and communities' rights, and finally, to facilitate
farmers' access to a living income. Speaking during the signing ceremony, Gabriel Mbairobé,
the Minister of Agriculture, said, "I confirm the support of the Government of Cameroon for
the efficient implementation of this Framework for Action. We need to ensure that the cocoa
sector not only flourishes but also benefits cocoa farmers, their communities and the
environment. This is the only way to guarantee long term sustainability of our cocoa
economy."

The Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, clarified the reciprocal
commitments of the signatories. "The producers must ensure that the forest is not destroyed,
but this is not a one-way contract. At the end of the chain, there is the market, the exporters,
the industries, and I am pleased that they have also signed this Framework for Action. Each
party must take on a share of these commitments. This is also why public authorities are
engaged in this Roadmap."

The cocoa sector plays a vital role in Cameroon in terms of job and wealth creation for local
communities. It could also contribute to forest protection and ecosystem conservation through
the implementation of sustainable farming practices. Given that Cameroon's tropical forests
still cover about 46% of the national territory and account for 11% of the Congo Basin
forests, it is even more urgent to take action. By signing this Roadmap, the Government of
Cameroon has recognized the risks posed by deforestation and the adverse effects of climate
change, and has understood the critical importance of growing cocoa while preserving
forests.

"The Roadmap is an important tool to demonstrate Cameroon's effort towards implementing

the Nationally Determined Contribution under the UN Framework Convention for Climate
Change," added Clotilde Ngomba, National Director of WWF Cameroon. "We are proud to
be part of these efforts and work alongside IDH towards the implementation of the Roadmap
commitments, through our joint landscape program, the Green Commodity Landscape
Program." Sustainable cocoa farming is not just a question of good business and respect for
forests. It also improves the farmers' livelihoods, especially the younger generation of
farmers. "If young cocoa farmers can make a decent living from cocoa produced on small
farms while preserving the surrounding forests, then there will be continuity of supply, and
Cameroon as a country can continue to enjoy the benefits of this important sector", explained
Alexis Koundi, President of the National Confederation of Cocoa Producers of Cameroon.
"The Roadmap signed today will help create a competitive advantage for Cameroonian cocoa
in the global market. It will help coordinate public-private-civil society efforts to produce a
higher and more stable cocoa quality, and enhance revenues of cocoa farmers," concluded
Jonas Mva Mva, Cocoa Program Director at IDH.

About the Roadmap to Deforestation

The Roadmap to Deforestation-free Cocoa is a public, private, civil society partnership that
aims to end cocoa-related deforestation in Cameroon. It builds on the Cocoa & Forests
Initiative Statement of Intent signed in March 2017 by the industry, in which they commit to
work together, pre competitively, to end deforestation and forest degradation in the cocoa
supply chain.

The Framework for Action of the Roadmap was developed through a participatory process
that was launched in Yaoundé on 31 January 2019. This process brought together
representatives of the Government of Cameroon, public and private sector actors, national
and international civil society organizations, farmers, research institutions, development
partners, and other stakeholders in Cameroon and at the global level. Over time, more than
200 stakeholders have been involved in this consultation process.

The Roadmap to Deforestation-free Cocoa is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Forestry
and Wildlife, and Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development.
The process is facilitated by IDH - The Sustainable Initiative, through funding from its
institutional donors: BUZA (The Netherlands), SECO (Switzerland), and DANIDA
(Denmark).

See video introduction of the Roadmap to Deforestation-free Cocoa3

About the Cocoa Sector in Cameroon

Cameroon is the 4th largest cocoa producing country globally and the 3rd largest in Africa
with 290,000 MT in the latest cocoa season. The nation's ambition is to lift this to 640,000
MT per year by 2030. Cocoa plays a vital role in the country's economy as it is the second-
largest export product, with an average of US$2 billion in export sales per year. However,
over the last two decades, the Cameroon cocoa quality decreased due to a lack of sectoral
support. As a result, the cocoa from Cameroon can no longer be sold on the premium market
- it is now sold for a discounted price on the international conventional market. These
3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptIrSOdpKUM
developments have made cocoa farming an unattractive occupation, and younger generations
are opting out to seek more lucrative employment elsewhere, while remaining cocoa
smallholders seek to increase their incomes by expanding cocoa cultivation into forests.

The rainforests in Cameroon cover approximately 46% of the national territory and account
for 11% of the Congo Basin forests. Therefore, Cameroon has the 3rd largest forest range in
the Congo Basin, after the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon. However, the country
is grappling with the adverse effects of climate change and with increasing pressure on
forests: from 2001 to 2019, Cameroon lost 1.32 million ha of tree cover, equivalent to a 4.2%
decrease in tree cover since 2000, and 519Mt of CO₂ emissions3. This rate is expected to
increase significantly over the coming years due to urbanization and commodity-driven
deforestation. The major driver of deforestation is agriculture, particularly the expansion of
commercial crops and, in particular, cocoa. If not well planned, the nation's ambition to lift
the cocoa production to 640,000 MT per year may create additional unsustainable pressure on
Cameroon's forests.

Press contacts: For further information or interview requests, please contact us:

- Ngwa Elvis Suh: ngwa@idhtrade.org. Tel. +237 650748888

- Gillian Evans: evans@idhtrade.org.Tel. +31 642287488

article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 25 November 2021

Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security
Volume 5 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.743079

Positive Influence of Certification on the Financial Performance of Cocoa Production Models

in Cameroon

Guillaume Lescuyer1,2* and  Simon Bassanaga3

1
CIRAD Forêts et Sociétés, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

2
CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia

3
Consultant, Yaounde, Cameroon

Cameroon plans to double its cocoa production in the coming decade in line with
international requirements for sustainable and deforestation-free cocoa. Private certification,
which has developed considerably in recent years, should help achieve this objective. Based
on a literature review and 63 individual interviews with farmers, we identified four
archetypes of cocoa production using the criteria of plantation size, degree of shade, and
support from public or private extension services. We analyzed the average operating
accounts of the four archetypes. Our findings show that the net profit rates obtained by small-
scale certified producers are 14% (in the savannah zone) and 24% (in the forest zone). These
rates are much higher than for the other two production models. Certification schemes
provide technical and financial support, which has a positive influence on the practices of
many small-scale producers and compensates for the lack of public services, which are now
almost non-existent. A hybrid governance of the cocoa sector in Cameroon could clarify and
improve the organization of the interactions between public regulation and private
certification systems.

Introduction

Old and New Challenges for Cocoa Production in Cameroon

The cocoa (Theobroma cacao) sector has been undergoing significant changes over the past
15 years in response to growing global demand for chocolate and new consumer demands to
reduce its environmental footprint and maximize its socio-economic impact on producers
(Kroeger et al., 2017; Lernoud et al., 2018). Much of the debate on these issues is based on
the experiences of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana (Ingram et al., 2017; Ruf and
Varlet, 2017). However, in both countries the tremendous expansion of cocoa farming in
recent decades has severely damaged natural forest. Indeed, the area of natural forest is now
very limited (Louppe, 2013). In other countries, cocoa development poses a greater risk for
deforestation and forest degradation. This is the case for several countries in the Congo Basin
with extensive forest cover and where policies aim to boost cocoa production. For example,
Cameroon is in an ideal position to analyse the approaches likely to set the development of
cocoa production on a path of sustainability and zero deforestation. In Cameroon, 41% of
land is covered by dense forests (Ernst et al., 2012). However, the rate of deforestation is
increasing (Vancutsem et al., 2021), of which 53% occurs in primary and mature secondary
forests and is mainly due to the expansion of food and cocoa crop production (Tyukavina et
al., 2018).

Cameroon has a long tradition of cocoa production. Between 1963 and 1993, annual
production was ~110,000 tons (Pédélahore, 2014b). The global economic crisis of the 1980s
and the sharp decline in primary commodity prices marked the beginning of a sectoral
reform. In the early 1990s, structural adjustment measures led to the dissolution of the main
public agency regulating the sector, the liberalization and deregulation of trade, and the
privatization of export quality control (Pokam and Sunderlin, 1999; Ruf, 2000). Although the
withdrawal of public support measures and the opening of the market exposed producers to
world market price volatility and increased competition, it also contributed to a revival of
cocoa production in Cameroon. The marketed volume doubled between 1993 and 2013 and
production exceeded 200,000 tons as of 2009 (Pédélahore, 2014b). Although production
increased, bean quality deteriorated because smallholders received less and less technical
support from public extension services (Beckett, 2009).

The increase in production over the past 30 years has not fundamentally changed the farming
system. It is still characterized by a very large number of small individual cocoa plantations.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), between
300,000 and 500,000 households produce cocoa. There is no homogeneous data on the area
currently cultivated with cocoa. Estimates vary from 375,000 ha according to Gockowski et
al. (2010) to 600,000 ha according to MINADER. We lack accurate information on how
much land is actually being used for growing cocoa and on the corresponding cocoa
production practices.
Cocoa production in Cameroon increased until 2016 and has since been affected by the fall in
international prices and unrest in the South West region. Annual production has stagnated at
around 250,000 tons of dry beans. Cameroon is the fifth largest cocoa-producing country in
the world. In the 2018–19 season, 241,000 tons of dry beans were sold on the market.
According to data from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB), 186,000 tons of
unprocessed beans were exported and 55,000 tons were sold to local processors.

In the past decade, the Cameroonian government has been faced with the major challenge of
reviving this sector. Recently, the National Development Strategy (MINEPAT, 2020)
reiterated the objective of producing 600,000 tons of dry beans annually. This target already
figured in the plan to revive the sector in 2014, but with a timeframe of 2030. Cameroonian
cocoa farming is also under new international pressure, particularly from the European Union
(Brack, 2019; Burkhardt, 2020), to demonstrate its sustainability and zero impact on forests.
The cocoa sector in Cameroon will therefore have to adapt in the medium term if it wants to
avoid a partial or total closure of its main export market.

Which Governance Models for the Cocoa Sector?

Combining increased cocoa production with meeting new environmental requirements is no

easy matter. Among the governance systems that are being considered to promote
sustainability in agricultural and forestry value chains (Lambin et al., 2014; Wardell et al.,
2021), three approaches have the potential to achieve this dual objective in Cameroon.

The first option is to strengthen public governance, i.e., allow the state to carry out its
planning, regulatory and support functions. Although the cocoa sector has been liberalized for
25 years, the public authorities are particularly interested in the sector because it affects the
livelihoods of many farmers and generates export earnings. Since the 1990s, the state has
delegated most regalian functions to a number of public organizations. As their fields of
intervention partly overlap, it is difficult to identify their specific tasks, which do not involve
prior consultation or external audit. Overall, the coordination of public action is poor, the use
of public funds is considered inefficient and public support is criticized for only reaching a
small number of producers (Sonwa et al., 2001; Basse et al., 2019).

In addition, public regulations have not yet met the international demand for legal,
sustainable and deforestation-free cocoa. It only sets minimalist conditions to define the
legality of cocoa production (Sanial et al., 2019). The international standard ISO 34101 for
sustainable and traceable cocoa was developed in 2019. It is not very restrictive in technical
terms, but it has not yet been converted into a national standard in Cameroon.

The state is struggling to apply an effective national sectoral policy in Cameroon. As a result,
private organizations, such as IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative), have been playing a key
role since 2018 to design a national roadmap for deforestation-free cocoa and to experiment
this approach in a few pilot jurisdictional landscapes with support from local authorities,
certified firms and decentralized administrative services. However, it is still too early to tell
whether this approach will achieve its objectives and be replicable on a larger scale in
Cameroon.

Private certification is the third option for increasing cocoa production in compliance with
international requirements. Apart from the few organic certification initiatives, two main
private standards certify sustainable cocoa in Cameroon: the Rainforest Alliance standard,
which merged with the Universal Trade Zone (UTZ) standard in 2018; and the Fair Trade
standard, which remains a small minority and is not included in our analysis. The volume of
certified cocoa increased significantly in Cameroon, from 3% in 2016 (Nlend Nkott et al.,
2019) to 24% in 2019. More than 57,000 tons were produced in the 2018–2019 season
according to NCCB figures. Cameroon is following the international trend of cocoa-
producing countries (Lernoud et al., 2018).

Certification is a market-driven mechanism, whereby the state plays an indirect role in

establishing the legal conditions for cocoa production. The governance of certified cocoa
relies almost entirely on private actors, including the standards' developers, the international
firms that use the standards, the auditors who verify their application and certified national
producers. Given that it is a voluntary mechanism, it will only be adopted by private actors,
including cocoa farmers if it can generate higher profits. The Rainforest Alliance certification
for cocoa benefits producers in four ways. It provides: (1) supervision, information and
training in “good agricultural practices”; (2) equipment and agricultural inputs; (3) a premium
per kilo of dry beans (50F.CFA in 2018–19); and (4) collective infrastructure, by investing
some of the revenue from the sales of certified cocoa. However, certified cocoa production
involves technical and social constraints that increase production costs. Overall, the effect of
certification on the living standards of cocoa farmers in Cameroon is unclear (Mithöfer et al.,
2017; Nlend Nkott et al., 2019). Without a more detailed analysis of the consequences of
certification, it is difficult to establish whether certification can be extended to include more
producers and, ultimately, become a relevant mode of governance for a cocoa sector
committed to sustainability.

Over and above these three approaches to managing the cocoa sector in Cameroon, multiple
forms of public and private governance mechanisms are emerging for agricultural and
forestry commodities. The three main modes of interaction (RESOLVE, 2012; Gulbrandsen,
2014; D'Hollander and Tregurtha, 2016; Savilaakso et al., 2017) are described as follows: (1)
substitution, when a public or private governance entity takes over all or part of a private or
public governance system; (2) hybridization, when two public and private governance entities
split or share functions, explicitly or implicitly; (3) symbiosis, when a certification system
interacts with another entity to solve a policy problem, while retaining both its independence
and autonomy, i.e., the actions of each entity reinforce the legitimacy and authority of the
other.

This paper assesses the impact of certification on the profits of Cameroonian producers and
how it could influence the future governance of cocoa production on the national scale. First,
we establish a simple typology of cocoa producers in Cameroon in order to estimate profit
levels and determine the extent to which profits depend on private and public support. Based
on our findings, we discuss how private certification could influence the future hybrid
governance of the cocoa value chain in Cameroon to meet the challenges of productivity and
sustainability.

Methods

Location of the Study Area

The survey took place in the four main cocoa production areas in Cameroon, according to
official data from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCBB) in 2018, namely the Center
region (50.4% of national production), the South West region (31.6%), the Littoral region
(7%) and the South region (5%). These four regions out of the ten regions that make up
Cameroon are located in the forested part of the country (Figure 1), but the northern part of
the Center region is mostly covered by savannah, gallery forest and residual forest (Santoir
and Bopda, 2004).

FIGURE 1
Figure 1. Location of the study areas.

Sampling Procedures

The information collected to establish a typology of cocoa producers in Cameroon was based
primarily on a review of the scientific and technical literature. The literature review was then
supplemented by 63 individual interviews with cocoa farmers in the four regions, i.e., Center
(22 respondents), South (21 respondents), Littoral (12 respondents), and South West regions
(8 respondents).

The selection of respondents followed 4 steps:

(1) The Rainforest Alliance in Cameroon provided us with the contact details of leaders of
cooperatives involved in certification in the four regions. These leaders were contacted by
phone to explain our work and to plan a meeting with most of their members at the beginning
of our visit.

(2) The same process was undertaken with the NCCB to work with cocoa growers from
cooperatives that were not engaged in certification in the four regions.

(3) We went to the headquarters of these cooperatives to first hold a collective meeting to
present our survey.

(4) In a second phase, we randomly selected a certain number of producers present at these
meetings to conduct individual interviews on their operating accounts. All of them agreed to
participate to the survey. The planned duration of our survey of more or less 2 days for each
of the cooperatives explains the number of interviews carried out at each site, around ten on
average. This average number of interviews per cooperative allowed to catch the relative
diversity of producers' practices within the same cooperative, as shown by the redundancy of
the information collected beyond 5–6 individual interviews.

Within the sample, 37 producers had joined the Rainforest Alliance certification and 26 had
no business links with any certification scheme. For the reference period, none of the
cooperatives involved in certification in our sample received any support beyond the support
received in the framework of certification.

Data Collection Procedure

Before visiting the sampled cooperatives, the individual questionnaire was tested on six
farmers and amended. Data were collected using a paper questionnaire in French or English.
The questionnaire was split into three parts:

1. a basic characterization of the cocoa plantation through 5 variables (active area in 2018 in
hectares, production in 2018 in kilograms, age of the plantation, cocoa varieties, presence or
absence of a certificate);

2. an estimate of revenues from the sale of cocoa beans in CFA francs in 2019, distinguishing
between the different quality grades assigned to cocoa beans;

3. an assessment of the annual costs associated with operating this plantation in CFA francs
in 2019, based on a pre-established list of all the usual cost items for a cocoa field. The
amount of unpaid family labor and subsidies received were also recorded.

The average time for completing an individual questionnaire was around one and a half
hours. This set of data was enough to calculate the value added and the net profit of each
plantation.

The surveys were conducted between March and May 2019, using the 2018–19 production
season as a reference. With the exception of the South West region, where access was
dangerous at the time of the survey, all interviews took place at or around the cooperatives'
headquarters, and within a few kilometers of the respondents' plantations. The meetings with
cocoa producers took place in or around six cities: Yaounde, Ntui and Bokito for the Center
region, Sangmelima and Ebolowa for the South region, Douala for the Littoral and South
West regions (Figure 1).

Data Analysis Procedure

We have adopted the usual terminology and approach for compiling the operating accounts of
cocoa producers. In this framework, the (gross) value added is the difference between the
value of the output and the value of intermediate inputs, or the sum of wages, interest
charges, taxes and gross profits. Similarly, the net profit is the balance when depreciation
(equipment) is subtracted from the gross profit.

Three steps were followed to establish the average operating accounts for the four archetypes
of cocoa producers in Cameroon. First, we collected data from each producer on plantation
size, 2018–2019 yield and the values of the income and cost categories. Second, we estimated
the average size and cocoa yield for each of the four archetypes. Third, we extrapolated the
cost and revenue data for each individual plantation to calculate the average plantation by
archetype in order to obtain the average operating accounts for each type of producer. The
quantitative data were processed and analyzed using Windows Excel 2016.

Results

Archetypes of Cocoa Producers

There are very diverse cocoa production methods in Cameroon. Many variables influence
yield per hectare and farm size, which means that there is no standard typology. However,
three variables are commonly used to distinguish cocoa production modes (Ruf,
2000, 2011; Jagoret et al., 2008; Michel et al., 2019): (1) the number of trees on the cocoa
farm and the degree of shading, (2) the size of the active plantation and (3) access to inputs.
The last variable is now strongly correlated with the support received by farmers through
Rainforest Alliance certification mechanisms or technical projects. By drawing on the
information in the literature and from our surveys, these three discriminant criteria allowed us
to identify four cocoa production archetypes in Cameroon (Table 1). They are completed with
descriptive criteria that are drawn from literature and public data from NCCB. Although the
four production archetypes are simplified representations of complex practices, they provide
an overall coherent and realistic image of how cocoa production is organized in Cameroon,
which is consistent with national statistics, as shown in the Table 2.

TABLE 1

Table 1. Main features of the archetypes of cocoa producers in Cameroon.

TABLE 2

Table 2. Contributions of producer archetypes to national cocoa supply in Cameroon in

2018–19.

Cocoa Producers' Operating Accounts

Figures for the average operating accounts were calculated for each production archetype in
order to determine their financial robustness and the contribution of private certification to
their economic performance (Table 3).

TABLE 3

Table 3. Operating accounts of the archetypes of cocoa producers (in XAF/year).

Small forest plantations with no external support (Archetype 1) are characterized by low
yields per hectare. Producers in this group do not receive public subsidies and rely mainly on
domestic labor. They usually sell their cocoa at a low price because of its poor quality and the
unfavorable conditions for negotiating with informal buyers (Lenou Nkouedjo et al., 2020).
These factors limit the profitability of this type of production, which yields a net profit of 4%.
The financial performance of this model has deteriorated over the past decade, showing a
decrease in the profit rate compared to earlier estimates by Duguma et al. (2001) or Temple
and Minkoua Nzié (2015). The low profitability means that farmers do not have the resources
to invest in more advanced and sustainable production practices.

The owners of small forest plantations with external support (Archetype 2) adopt a more
intensive production model. As a result, they have a greater average turnover but with higher
production costs. Private subsidies enhance the financial performance of this model,
generating a net profit rate of 24%.

The owners of small plantations with little shade and with external support (Archetype 3) also
use more intensive cocoa production methods. This comes at a higher cost, given the more
technical nature of cocoa growing in the savannah zone and the monetisation of certain
factors of production, such as labor or land. The net profit rate is 14%.

Lastly, the owners of medium-sized plantations with little shade and no external support
(Archetype 4) are even more committed to a capitalist approach to cocoa farming. Their
investments are based on solid business plans, which do not depend on private or public
subsidies. Their net profit rate is 9%, but their value added is the highest of all cocoa farmer
types.

Discussion

Certification, an Effective but Partial Solution

Private certification is now a well-established mechanism in the cocoa sector in Cameroon. It
represents almost a quarter of national production and involves some 90,000 small producers.
The above results show that there is a positive correlation between the average profit level of
a cocoa grower and his involvement in a certification process. However, the attribution of this
profit surplus to certification alone remains to be demonstrated since many variables are
likely to also influence the level of profit, such as the good governance of the cooperative or
the training received previously by the producers, which do not necessarily relate to the
certification process. Furthermore, the development of our producer archetypes relies on a
combination of primary information from a small sample of cooperatives and secondary data
at the national level, which required several assumptions to make them compatible. These
two limitations put the reliability of the analysis into perspective and mitigate against the
lessons that can be learned from it. But in the absence of detailed national databases that
allow for a more comprehensive and rigorous analysis, it is difficult to estimate the potential
influence of certification on producers' net incomes without relying on such methodological
proxies.

These methodological biases being noted, the success of private certification may be due to
its positive correlation with the profitability of smallholders. A comparison of the financial
performance of archetypes 2-3 and archetype 1 shows profit rates that are two to three times
higher for the former. The additional profit associated to certification may not only be due to
the higher price per kilo of beans, but also to lower production costs and better farming
practices, which increase yield per hectare. The situation is similar in Ghana (Fenger et al.,
2016). The support provided by certification may have a strong influence on smallholders'
practices. It largely supplements public services, which are now almost non-existent, as
shown by the absence of public subsidies in their operating accounts. Private certification has
become the main support mechanism for smallholders, which means that it can no longer be
considered as a complementary approach to public action (Nlend Nkott et al., 2019).

However, despite the potential financial benefits, private certification is not a panacea for all
cocoa farmers in Cameroon. Two types of cocoa farmers do not benefit from this market-
driven mechanism for different reasons: lack of capacity for some and overcapacity for
others.

In the first case, the sustainability standards imposed cannot be met by small producers
belonging to archetype 1 due to the age of their plantations, their small size, isolation and
their limited material resources. Therefore, the cocoa sector in Cameroon is based on a two-
tier production system, as in Côte d'Ivoire (Uribe-Leitz and Ruf, 2019). In addition, the price
and premium for certified cocoa is too low to convince producers to invest in improving their
production methods. The 200,000 producers in archetype 1 have an estimated break-even
price of 680 XAF per kilogram (excluding the cost of domestic labor). This is close to the
average sale price of 850 XAF for certified cocoa in rural areas during the 2018–19 season. If
there is no significant increase in the certification premium and no other external support, few
farmers in this group are likely to be able to produce certified cocoa in the medium term.

Producers with medium-sized plantations, i.e., between 5 and 20 hectares, do not rely on
certification to support their business models either. For about 20 years, i.e., well before the
emergence of private certification, a class of cocoa entrepreneurs emerged. These producers
are still marginal (in terms of numbers), but their performance (yield and value added) is
remarkable. For this group, cocoa farming is a productive investment based on a cost-benefit
analysis. They invest in the material, financial and human resources to meet the yield and
profit objectives (Pédélahore, 2014b). This capital-intensive approach to cocoa production
seems promising, at least from an economic point of view. However, it is only a realistic
option for an urban elite with the necessary capital to invest. So far, certification has little
influence on this production model. This may be because it was not integrated in their
business plans. Certification schemes may be adopted, if they have the potential to increase
financial profitability.

Toward a Hybrid Governance of the Cocoa Value Chain

The liberalization of cocoa production in Cameroon and the development of private

certification have affected the governance of the cocoa sector. The public services have done
little to support its development. The private sector has compensated to some extent, by
setting up certification schemes. However, it would be misleading to suggest that the
interactions between public and private instruments of governance in the cocoa sector are
solely a matter of substitution. In the Cameroonian cocoa sector, the reality is more complex
because substitution, hybridization and symbiosis simultaneously affect different governance
variables.

Firstly, as the operating accounts show, the only direct or indirect subsidies that small
producers receive come from firms involved in certification. However, this substitution of
public subsidies by support from private firms faces two obstacles: most smallholders cannot
afford to comply with the certification criteria; the development of certification may reach a
plateau in the medium term because no national firm in Cameroon is interested in this
mechanism at the moment. This could result in a two-tier cocoa sector, which would not only
fail to achieve the objectives, but would also be unacceptable to the public authorities (Nlend
Nkott et al., 2019). Rather than letting private certification schemes monopolize the technical
support provided to producers, a hybrid between private and public governance is required.
For example, private entities could provide effective technical support to producers, while
public services could provide assistance to cooperatives and national enterprises (Fenger et
al., 2016). Similarly, purchase price support could combine the premium offered by
certification with the quality premium that the Ministry of Trade applies for grade 1 beans.

The traceability of cocoa beans is also an area with potential regarding the interaction
between public and private governance. In Cameroon, private cocoa certification is currently
the only mechanism that can guarantee part of the traceability process, in the form of secure
slips between the certified producers' cooperatives and the export markets. Due to a lack of
resources, the administration now only collects data on approximate volumes in the regional
capitals. This data is consolidated by the more complete export statistics from the port of
Douala. As we have seen for timber in the context of the FLEGT Action Plan (Tsanga, 2021),
the Cameroonian state has tremendous difficulty ensuring the credible traceability of products
within its borders. Substituting a failing public traceability system by a proven private system
is probably the solution to adopt, at least in the medium term. However, the traceability
system used by the Rainforest Alliance standard is usually only partial since it only traces the
cocoa bean from the first place of sale (often a cooperative) and not from the cocoa
plantation. Although the geolocation of plantations is a criterion of this standard, it is rarely
verified and seldom implemented (Ruf et al., 2019; Carimentrand, 2021). If the public
authorities are to adopt a private traceability system, there are two prerequisites: first,
ensuring that private certification effectively assesses legal compliance; second, improving
the procedures developed by the Rainforest Alliance (or others') standard to trace cocoa beans
from the plantations.

Lastly, current regulations provide very few benchmarks to define what legal cocoa is (Sanial
et al., 2019). Public authorities are slow to define what would be considered sustainable and
deforestation-free cocoa, apart from the non-binding roadmap signed in 2020 under the
auspices of IDH. This is worrying, especially given that most of Cameroon's cocoa comes
from agroforestry systems with high tree density and biodiversity (Jagoret et al., 2008).
Private certification schemes are constantly reviewing certification standards under pressure
from European markets. Indeed, the private sector is involved in discussions and is also
making progress to define sustainable and deforestation-free cocoa. Therefore, a symbiosis
between public and private modes of governance would help clarify the attributes of legal,
sustainable and deforestation-free cocoa (Carodenuto, 2019; Nlend Nkott et al., 2019).
Administrations still have a great deal of work to do in order to specify the conditions for
legal cocoa, for example, in terms of ecosystem conversion or labor rights. Similarly,
certification bodies need to improve the content of their standards to ensure that they
recognize the sustainability of agroforestry cocoa plantations and integrate criteria that can
demonstrate zero deforestation (Carimentrand, 2021).

Conclusion

Private certification to guarantee sustainability is sometimes seen as an approach that serves

multinational companies keen to increase their market share or to green their reputation, with
no real positive impact on the social and natural environments of their supply areas (Poynton,
2015). Our partial analysis of the Rainforest Alliance certification might show that it has a
positive influence on the yields and profits of a significant proportion of cocoa farmers in
Cameroon. This does not mean that smallholders are the main beneficiaries of private
certification at the national (Lenou Nkouedjo et al., 2020) or international level (Alliot et al.,
2016). However, in areas where the state no longer provides the extension services that it
used to provide, producers that join certification schemes could benefit from technical
support and a higher level of income.

The positive influence that certification might have on the profits of many cocoa producers
does not mean that it should become the exclusive mode of governance in this sector. Private
certification also has major shortcomings, inasmuch as it excludes a majority of producers
and is based on unsatisfactory sustainability and traceability criteria.

Several international and national conditions are now in place for a mixed governance
approach to the cocoa sector in Cameroon. This mixed approach recognizes that the private
sector plays a decisive role when it comes to improving the performance of cocoa producers
and responding to market pressures, mainly through sustainability certification. Nonetheless,
the role of private certification would be even more effective if it was clearly combined with
the state's functions of regulating and promoting the sector. This type of mixed governance of
the cocoa sector in Cameroon has yet to be developed. An objective analysis is required to
examine the actors' capacities and interests to move forward in this direction, and on the basis
of their respective efficiency.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors,
without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in
accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent
for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation
and the institutional requirements.

Author Contributions

GL and SB conducted the literature review. GL elaborated, tested and implemented the
survey protocol, with the support of SB to connect with the cocoa growers, and other
stakeholders. Data analysis was done by GL. GL and SB relied on the results to propose
governance options for the cocoa sector in Central Africa. Both authors contributed to the
writing of the manuscript, with GL contributing the most.

Funding

The work reported in this paper was conducted with funding support from the European
Commission/DEVCO under its Value Chain Analysis for Development (VCA4D) project
(Contract Number: 2016/375-804). This study was also funded by the CGIAR Research
Programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or
financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the
reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its
manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the cocoa producers who took the time to answer our
questions, as well as the Cameroonian stakeholders who helped us to better understand the
governance of this sector. We would also like to thank Bienvenue Belinga who conducted ten
interviews with producers. This article is based on discussions held with Elsa Sanial, François
Ruf, Raphaël Tsanga, Laurence Boutinot, Pietro Goglio, and Aurélie Carimentrand. Finally,
Isis Olivier proofread and amended the English language of this article.

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Keywords: rainforest alliance, agroforestry, zero deforestation, profit, value added, Congo

Basin

Citation: Lescuyer G and Bassanaga S (2021) Positive Influence of Certification on the

Financial Performance of Cocoa Production Models in Cameroon. Front. Sustain. Food
Syst. 5:743079. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.743079
Received: 17 July 2021; Accepted: 25 October 2021;
Published: 25 November 2021.

Edited by:

Kaysara Khatun, University of Greenwich, United Kingdom

Reviewed by:

Eric Brako Dompreh, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Nyong Princely Awazi, The University of Bamenda, Cameroon
Ingrid Fromm, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

Copyright © 2021 Lescuyer and Bassanaga. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright
owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance
with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does
not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Guillaume Lescuyer, guillaume.lescuyer@cirad.fr

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