EU tightens laws on African cocoa exports
Mon, 2013-06-03 13:02
Cocoa producing countries in Africa stand to lose billions of euros in exports as the European Union has tightened laws on the importation of cocoa beans into the economic group. In April this year, Cameroon had their exports totally rejected.
Cameroon is the world's fifth largest cocoa grower. Aside Cameroon, the bulk of the world's cocoa beans originates from West Africa. Ivory Coast is the world's leading exporter of the crop with a whopping 40 percent market share. Together with Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, the West African region produces more than 50 percent of the world's cocoa beans.
Cameroon was the first African country to have its cocoa harvest rejected by the European Union, when 2,000 tonnes of beans failed to be certified in April. This the EU said, was due to high levels of chemicals found in the product which they considered to be harmful to human health, Ventures Africa reports.
A Regulatory Manager at the food distribution company Cargill, Mark Yonker told DW TV in Paris that the sub-standard conservation methods used is the root cause.
"The main problem is drying the cocoa artificially. When smoke comes in touch with cocoa beans, then you risk higher levels of what we call polycyclic aroma to hydrocarbons," Yonker explained.
Cocoa farmers in Cameroon generally dry their cocoa beans on tarred roads or smoke the produce in traditional ovens. European buyers had previously warned Cameroon's cocoa farmers that such practices could have negative effects on the health of consumers.
Chocolate, which is derived from cocoa has become a multi-billion euro industry and the mainstay of countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Farmer Kane Peter said it has been difficult for growers to abide with the new EU cocoa export legislation. "The farmers are in a hurry, they will not persevere enough to ferment [the cocoa beans]. They will just take every thing and pack in the oven for two days in order to be able to go and sell it."
Susan Ako, another farmer, added that poverty is to blame for their rush in wanting to get their cocoa harvest to the market.
By so doing, they fail to observe the regulations. "You know that cocoa comes from the farm during the rainy season. So farmers don't persevere to dry their cocoa, they need fast money so they dry it anywhere."
Huge quantities of bagged raw beans lie in villages across the Cameroon country waiting to be quality-controlled before being exported. Cameroonian authorities are cracking down on sub-standard cocoa processing practices too by confiscating poorly dried beans, especially those dried on tarred roads.
Food preservation remains a challenge for African farmers as the practice of drying cocoa beans in unhealthy means is not limited to Cameroon. Lack of investment in the sector means that cocoa farming is largely in the hands of uneducated peasant farmers, who have little support to modernise their operations.
Cameroon's Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Atangana, said the government was taking measures to tackle the problem. "On all roads farmers use to dry cocoa beans, the government has to decided to distribute tarpaulins free of charge. And in the south-west where heavy rains make it difficult for cocoa to dry, the government has distributed ovens for drying cocoa."
EU Consumer Federation representative, Phil Sigley says Cameroon has no choice but to modernise its cocoa sector. "If they [farmers] produce good cocoa and it gets blended or mixed with bad cocoa, then that farmer may not be getting the best he deserves."
Cocoa is Cameroon's main export. A slump in commodity prices of the product in the mid 1980s is said to have caused a decade long recession in the country.
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2013 13:38:34 +0100
From: vifa57@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Re: [Cameroonpatriots] Unification 1959-1961
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