Cocoa producers advocate for programme implementation

This was as a result of findings from an evaluation of pilot project for rationalization by the ICC, Thursday at Monatélé.

Speaking at a meeting for the evaluation of the Programme of support for the Organization of cocoa in the Department of the Lékié, the Executive Secretary for the International Council for Cocoa and Coffee, ICCC, indicated that it was time for this pilot program launched last year for a period of three years to be put in place.

For Omer Gatien Malédy, the balance sheet is more than satisfactory, although some problems remain. "Satisfaction is ours because we start from nothing, from a total mess. Thanks to the Aoc program, a hundred markets were found during the current cocoa campaign. Many producers who sold alone have found the organisation of the market. But the problem persists because archaic marketing still remains within producers in Lékié".

"The problem is still rampant because some producers do not sell their cocoa in a group and continue to offer their cocoa before production," he says.

To explain this inconvenience, the Executive Secretary of the ICCC explains: "producers are partly responsible for the problem, because, when they are organized, everything goes on well. An organized producer knows that it is in his best interest to sell to the market and through the cooperative where there are best price and all supports and frameworks necessary to enable him obtain profit from his work done".

He added, "The problem will still exist as long as the producer wants to sell separately. There are many problems to solve as far as the marketing of cocoa is concerned. But, there is the start of an organization and we are going to whip this up for the coming campaign".