Meme SDO restricts cocoa transportation without military escort

Chamberlain Ntou’ou Ndong, the Senior Divisional Officer of Meme, has made it illegal for vehicles to transport cocoa along the Kumba-Mamfe road without a defence force escorting them. He did this by signing an order which restricts cocoa transportation without military escort.

He attributed the order, passed on September 29, to “numerous secessionist attacks against vehicles transporting cocoa” along the Kumba-Mamfe road.

He said separatist fighters have been making huge sums of money from cocoa dealers, money they have been using to buy weapons to fight against the government.

“In this regard, I have the honour to inform you that the circulation of vehicles transporting cocoa products on the national road N°8 without a Defence Forces escort is prohibited till further notice between Kumba and Mamfe,” the Meme SDO stated.

He asked the cocoa transporters to contact his office whenever they needed a military escort.

The uncertainty is whether cocoa dealers will have to pay the administration some money in order for defence forces to escort them.

“If that is the case, then is it not adding salt to injury? These businesspeople have suffered a lot, and adding such a financial burden to them will not be the best,” says an observer on social media.

Other people doubt the sustainability of the measure because it could expose cocoa transporters to more attacks from separatists.

It is also feared that the measure could cause cocoa transporters in Manyu Division to further increase illegal cocoa exportation to Nigeria, a problem the government is fighting to curb.

In June, the Minister of Trade In a note made public on June 13, 2023, Minister Mbarga Atangana said Cameroon lost an estimated FCFA 10 billion in exit duties and export royalties due to illegal cocoa exportation to Nigeria and FCFA 60 billion in terms of repatriation of foreign currency.

Cameroon’s South West Region is one of the largest cocoa-producing regions in the country, contributing 40 per cent to the country’s annual output.

However, due to the ongoing armed conflict in the Region and illegal cocoa exportation to Nigeria, the South West Region could only contribute 21 percent of the total cocoa beans produced in Cameroon last cocoa season, according to the economic news website, Business in Cameroon.

Armed conflict is seen as the greatest hindrance to optimal cocoa production in the South West. Many farmers have been displaced and have abandoned their farms, while others are still finding it difficult to access their farms regularly due to insecurity.