Coffee Sector Revival : 1,500 Hectares To Be Planted In Five Years

The Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Council has drawn up a plan to spearhead the planting of not less than 1,500 hectares of new coffee plantations in the next five years. Sylvestre Essono Messanga, head of the Operations Department of the council disclosed the plan in an interview with Cameroon Tribune. The plan aimed at reviving the coffee sector falls in line with the council’s New Generation programme which stands on two pillars; the production of plants and attracting youths into coffee growing.
The production of plants, he said, requires the creation of seed farms- farms where people harvest material used to produce plants. “Then we need to train people on how to take care of these plants after which we move on to the production of the plants proper.  The production has many factors that are taken into consideration,” said Essono Messanga.
As for attracting the youth into the sector, the director said this aspect consist of training as well as production of coffee plants. “The basis of our New Generation programme is training in plant production- how to create and manage nurseries. We think that if this is done, we will have many plants enough to help coffee growers to open new plantations,” he noted. 
Going by the CCIC operations director, the target of the project is to produce at least 100 hectares annually, “but if we continue with our plan to get 300 young Cameroonians engaged in the coffee sector in the next five years, every one of them will be able to create one hectare. In five years, we will have 1,500 hectares created. When they master...