Yaounde, June 2 - Cocoa and coffee farmers in Cameroon will soon benefit from a modern market information system aimed at making the industry more profitable for farmers who now face middlemen taking a large share, officials said.
The Infoshare system, initially planned in 2005 but launched late last week, will relay data on production, quality and international as well as local prices to farmers using the internet, mobile phones and local radio stations.
Cameroon, now the world's fifth largest cocoa producer, liberalised its coffee and cocoa sectors in 1993. The collapse of the marketing board allowed middlemen to move in and profit from lack of information about the market.
"These people buy produce from growers at very low prices and sell to exporters five times higher, " said Michael Ndoping, general manager of Cameroon's National Cocoa and Coffee Board, as he presented the initiative to farmers and exporters.
"Infoshare will collect data on production, quality and prices within and outside the country, computerise (them) and disseminate to all parts of the country....," he added.
The Infoshare system aims to build a network of some 65 community and rural radio stations broadcasting in a range of local dialects across Cameroon.
"In this way, we believe cocoa and coffee farmers will earn more money which will encourage them to produce so as to continue to make and more money," Ndoping said.
Initial estimates by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which has helped develop the scheme, estimated that greater market transparency would enable small-scale farmers to increase their returns by 10-15 percent.
"Cameroon was chosen to host the pilot project because it is a major producer of the crops," said Olivier Combe, UNCTAD's representative in Cameroon.
"If good results are obtained here, the project will be replicated in other (central African) countries, and why not, Africa as a whole," he added.
Cameroon currently produces around 190,000 tonnes of cocoa beans every year but Ndoping told Reuters earlier this year that the country aims to increase output to around 300,000 tonnes within five years.