The future of cocoa in Cameroon

Cameroon’s cocoa sector sits at a critical intersection of risk and opportunity. Growing supply concerns in neighbouring Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire - where cocoa production declined sharply in 2023 and 2024 – have increased buyer interest in Cameroon as a potentially more stable source of supply. However, the sector continues to face significant challenges, including deforestation risks, fragmented supply chain and weak transparency. Meanwhile, farmers and local businesses urgently need greater investment to improve productivity, meet sustainability requirements, and protect forests. This tension between risk and opportunity is becoming harder to ignore, reshaping what it will take to build a resilient cocoa sector in Cameroon. 

Christian Enouga Elomo, IDH Cameroon director, explains in this article how he believes these developments - and the prospect of the European Union Deforestation Regulation - have created a timely opportunity to translate growing alignment across government, the private sector and development partners into practical action that strengthens farmer livelihoods, restores confidence in sourcing and supports long-term forest protection.  

Cocoa is central to Cameroon’s rural economy  

Produced across seven of the country’s 10 regions, Cameroon’s cocoa sector supports around 500,000 people and provides the main source of income for an estimated 70% of rural households. But increasing pressure on forests - particularly in the Central, Southern and Eastern regions - has intensified concerns about deforestation linked to cocoa expansion. 

Unlike Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, Cameroon liberalised its cocoa market in the 1990s. While this created a more open and competitive system, it also resulted in a fragmented supply chain with limited coordination and greater exposure to market volatility.  

Recent price volatility has further intensified these pressures. Record cocoa prices in 2023 and 2024 encouraged farmers, cooperatives and buyers to invest in production and sustainability initiatives. However, the decline in prices since 2025 has left many producers struggling with debt and falling incomes - putting long-term investments and the sector’s resilience at risk. 

Momentum is growing  

Despite these challenges, momentum around sustainable cocoa is growing. Cameroon adopted a Roadmap for Deforestation-Free Cocoa in 2021, followed by the launch of the Sustainable Cocoa Platform in 2022, facilitated by IDH. The platform brings together public and private sector actors around a shared ambition of achieving 100% sustainable cocoa production by 2030. Increasingly, climate risks, market requirements and farmer livelihoods are being understood not as separate issues, but as interconnected challenges that require coordinated solutions. 

Building on this shared ambition, the platform’s 2022 – 2025 action plan - developed under the Roadmap for Deforestation-Free Cocoa and informed by CocoaTalks under the European Union’s Sustainable Cocoa Initiative - has helped establish several of the foundations needed for sustainable cocoa production. These include national forest mapping, the identification of cocoa production areas, technical guidance on cocoa agroforestry and sustainable production practices, and the validation of guidance on the legal framework for sustainable cocoa in Cameroon. 

The EUDR has also accelerated action across the sector. As over 90% of Cameroon's cocoa is exported to Europe, companies have expanded efforts to map and geolocate farms within their supply chains. Over the past five years, private-sector investment in plot mapping and traceability has increased rapidly, while sector stakeholders have worked towards shared farmer databases and common identification systems, including the Geoshare platform developed by the Interprofessional Cocoa and Coffee Council (ICCB). These efforts are helping to strengthen transparency while preparing the sector to meet evolving market requirements. 

This growing alignment creates a strong foundation for long-term change. Christian sees an important opportunity for Cameroon to strengthen its position as a credible and sustainable cocoa origin by improving coordination across the sector, increasing investment in farming communities and building stronger incentives for forest protection.

IDH: looking ahead 

Practical examples of this transition are already emerging. Through its Green Commodity Landscape Program, IDH has supported the consolidation of cooperatives across the Grand Mbam landscape (Ntui, Mbangassina and Ngoro) into three cooperative unions: UCOOM, UGICCANGO and UCOOPCAN. These unions have received training on EUDR requirements, farm mapping and data collection, enabling them to develop databases covering around 2,500 cocoa plots and establish traceability systems that can ultimately connect to a future national system. This shows how local organisations can strengthen transparency, improve market access and help farmers participate more effectively in more sustainable supply chains. 

IDH’s approach for 2026–2030 focuses on supporting Cameroon’s transition towards climate-resilient, nature-positive and commercially viable food systems. This includes strengthening cocoa platforms, supporting regenerative farming models, improving landscape governance and catalysing investment through technical assistance and seed capital. A strong emphasis is also being placed on forest protection and restoration, alongside expanding opportunities for women farmers, youth employment and agri-entrepreneurship. 

As Cameroon works to build a more coordinated and sustainable cocoa sector, the challenge now is to convert shared ambition into measurable results — strengthening farmer incomes, restoring confidence among buyers and demonstrating that forest protection and commercial resilience can advance together.