Yaounde, March 20 - Cameroon will raise its annual cocoa output to as much as 300,000 tonnes within five years from current levels of around 190,000 tonnes, a senior administrator in the world's No. 5 producer said on Thursday.
Michael Ndoping, general manager of the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB), said available farmland, low taxes and high farmgate prices were encouraging farmers to grow more cocoa but middlemen and poor roads were still cutting margins.
Global cocoa supplies have been finely balanced and futures traded in London and New York have risen over the last year, supported by fears of a poor crop in nearby Ivory Coast, the world's biggest producer.
"In five years we will definitely make the 250,000 (tonnes), if not more. We could easily hit 300,000," Ndoping told Reuters in an interview in Cameroon's capital.
Benchmark cocoa futures for delivery in May ttraded at 1,897 pounds per tonne in London on Wednesday, and while they have fallen from late January's high of more than 2,000 pounds, are still up more than 7 percent from the start of the year.
Analysts say the outlook for Ivory Coast, which normally produces around 1.3 million tonnes but this year is forecast at 1 million tonnes, is particularly gloomy and could fall dramatically if steps are not taken to help farmers invest more in their crops.
"We are small but we can fill some of the gap. We have good climate and hardworking people. If Cameroonians know they can make money from cocoa, they will do it," Ndoping said.
INVESTMENT SOUGHT
Figures for the 2008/09 season showed Cameroon produced 182,583 tonnes of cocoa between August and February, of which a local grinder bought 24,915 tonnes and the remaining 157,668 tonnes exported.
Ndoping said farm-gate prices were roughly 900 CFA francs ($1.85) per kg over the last few years, meaning Cameroonian farmers earned far more than their counterparts in other countries in the region. Ivorian famers have been receiving roughly 500 CFA francs per kg.
The Cocoa and Coffee Development Fund (FODECC) was helping farmers with pest and disease management and improved support services, he said.
Following the liberalisation of Cameroon's cocoa sector government export taxes on beans were slashed, though the Fund receives levies of 15 francs per kg exported.
The government's NCCB receives a further 8.5 francs while the private sector-led Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) is paid 1.5 francs per kg.
Cameroon, once a major oil producer which is now seeking investment in its mining and hydroelectric sectors, is also a minor coffee producer.
At its peak during the 1960s, Cameroon produced 120,000 tonnes of coffee each year but that level has fallen to around 40,000 tonnes today.
"By 2013, we want it to be at 80,000 tonnes," Ndoping said.
Donors and businessmen say excessive levels of taxation and the mismanagement of funds raised have contributed to the decline of Ivory Coast's cocoa industry.
Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Cameroon as one of the most corrupt countries in which to do business, but Ndoping said conditions were ripe for big investors to look at the cocoa sector, and that the government would maintain current tax levels.
"The business environment is good for cocoa. We just don't produce enough. There is land but access is a problem. The problem is rural roads," he said.