Comparative Analysis of Environmental and Social Impacts of Cocoa Production: Case Study Cameroon

Abstract

During the late 1980s, the Cameroonian cocoa sector was controlled by the government in their attempt to stabilise farm income by setting an average purchase price for raw cocoa. This system collapsed around 1987, when there was a drastic fall in the world price of cocoa and the government could not stabilise the market using its traditional support systems of setting an annual purchase price. In 1994/1995 the Cameroon cocoa trade was fully liberalised (Bisseleua 2007). According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Sixth International Cocoa Agreement which came into force in 2003, inspired the adoption of Law No. 2004/025 on 30th December 2004 that liberalised the country's cocoa sector (UNEP 2009). In this law, issues such as product quality and their derivatives, the collection, analysis and dissemination of data were addressed. Additionally, compliance with international standards for future production was also ensured by the law.