Yaounde, Aug 16 - Cameroon's robusta coffee exports fell further in the first six months of the 2008/2009 season, officials said, despite government efforts to reverse a long-term decline in the sector.
Robusta exports fell to 12,761 tonnes from 13,672 metric tonnes in the first half of 2007/2008, the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) said in a statement late on Saturday.
"Despite efforts deployed by public authorities to revive the sector, robusta coffee exports from Cameroon during the first six months of this season, just like the last 10 years, have continued to decline," the NCCB said the statement.
Robusta makes up the bulk of Cameroon's coffee sector, the world's fifth largest.
At its peak in the 1960s, Cameroon produced 120,000 tonnes annually, an output which the NCCB wants to approach in years to come by strategies such as rehabilitating ageing farms and boosting access to markets.
The NCCB noted that despite the global slowdown, prices on the international market would remain attractive for at least the medium term and it urged growers and others in the sector to put in more effort to raise production.
The robusta coffee season in Cameroon runs from December to November. The Central African country exported 28,315 tonnes of robusta coffee in the 2007/2008 season, down from 38,968 tonnes the previous season.