On 28 July, NGO Mighty Earth published Cameroon on the Brink: Cocoa’s new deforestation frontier. The report examines the risks linked to deforestation in Cameroon’s cocoa sector under the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the expansion of the cocoa sector in Cameroon.
- Yields from cocoa sourcing regions including Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana are decreasing due to aging plantations, soil degradation.
- Emerging markets include Cameroon, which has seen increased cocoa cultivation, but this in turn is leading to increased deforestation. In five years has lost over 780,000 hectares, half to cocoa cultivation.
- Cameroon’s government has a goal to triple cocoa production by 2030. This is likely to increase deforestation further.
- Companies shifting sourcing to Cameroon may be at risk under the EUDR.
Key findings
The report is based on deforestation alerts, spatial analysis of cocoa suitability zones, field investigations and engagement with cocoa-farming communities. It includes case studies on three cocoa-producing regions, Nkondjock, Yabassi and Njombe.
Deforestation
- Satellite alerts and field investigations identified recent deforestation activity, with cocoa cultivation as a key driver.
- The current policy of allowing individuals / farmers to claim land through cultivation is a strong driver.
Wages and poverty
- 69% of smallholders live in poverty and see expanding their farms through deforestation as a way of increasing income.
- Cooperatives and licensed buying agents (LBAs) struggle to pay farmers immediately, which often makes Coxeurs – informal middlemen – the preferred buyer for smallholders. Despite paying below market rate, Coxeurs pay in cash and provide advances.
Traceability Gaps
- The complexity of cocoa supply chains involves multiple layers (farmer, cooperative, Coxeur, LBA, exporter) making tracing cocoa to farm-level as required under EUDR challenging.
Lack of enforcement and support at producer level
- Smallholders and Coxeurs stated that brands’ enforcement and support of sustainable practices was rarely cascaded to their level, often only applied to higher tiers in the supply chain.