Cameroon appears as new boundaries for the production of cocoa, raising concerns about cocoa -dependent forest removal, according to a non -profitable group.
In a new report, Mighty Earth warns that the Central African country is “the next main hot point for cocoa -dependent forest removal.”
Cameroon suffers from a cocoa mutation, as major producers such as Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire face low productivity due to global heating, crop diseases and old agricultural practices.
Europe, which imports more than 50 % of global cocoa pills and calculates 75 % of chocolate sales, is the largest export market in Cameroon.
During the 2023/24 season, 80 % of cocoa in the country was exported to the European Union.
The Great Earth said that the report, which uses satellite images and field investigations in areas such as Nkondjock, Yabassi and Njombe, reveals the removal of the continuous forests driven by cocoa.
Non -governmental organizations warn that the removal of forests can violate the regulation of forest removal in the European Union (EUDR), which is scheduled to enter into effect in December after being already. delayed. Under the guidance, corporate marketing products, including cocoa, coffee and palm oil in the European Union, will have to show their supply chains free of effects related to removal.
EUDR imposes corporate marketing products such as Cocoa in the European Union to ensure the supply chains that are free from deforestation.
The great land has warned that without urgent and coordinated procedures from companies, the European Union, and the Cameroon government, the owners of small holders risk the loss of access to their largest market once the EUDR legislation is applied.
“To protect Cameroon’s access to its largest market, the European Union, and prevent more forest loss, farmers should be better supported to improve practices, and meet EUDR’s compliance and are somewhat compensated.
“EUDR gives Cameroon an opportunity to take a different path – but only if companies are behaving now to ensure full tracking. So far, they shorten.”
Since 2020, Cameroon has lost more than 781,000 hectares of forests, with half of this loss in cocoa cultivation areas, as stated in the Great Earth Report.
She added that in some areas, the forest cover has decreased by more than 40 % over the past five years.
Despite the high prices of farm in Cameroon compared to Bagna or Cote d’Ivoire, 69 % of cocoa agricultural families live below the poverty line.
Farmers get less for beans because of the brokers known as “Coxeurs”, who take large margins, leaving farmers driven by low ages and complications of tracking in the supply chain.
The bean system is often caused by the areas that are mixed with those on the farms that are monitored, which threatens the obligations of the sources free of cases of deforestation.