By Mildred Wung
The capacity of coffee farmers in the Northwest Region has been boosted thanks to a large scale coffee transformation plant inaugurated by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Gabriel Mbairobe.
Picture: ultra modern coffee machine
The inauguration of the plant worth two hundred million francs took place April 24, 2021 at the regional office of the Northwest Farmers Cooperative Association NWCA.
Local farmers and agricultural technicians witnessed the installation of the coffee machine that compose of a roasting mill, a cooling mix, a storage tank and destoner and a conveyor which would enable farmers double the production of coffee from one thousand five hundred tons with an increased revenue. Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, the Minister of Agriculture reassured farmers “I am here to assure that the government will continue to support them and the creation of this transformation unit would provide another machine to produce extra coffee and support coffee farmers to increase the production by supplying improved seedlings, fertilisers and pesticides and by supplying funds for the farmers so that they can be assured that coffee is a very important agricultural crop in Cameroon and the Northwest in particular” he said.
At the site of the new coffee plant, the General Manager of NWCA Waindim Timothy made a positive remark “Our farmers would remain firm and focussed to ensure that production is increased” he intimated. Farmers are confident that the new coffee plant will yield more impact as far as coffee farming and consumption is concerned.
Nchangwi Hellen who is President of Northwest Cooperative Association, and also a coffee farmer in Bafut underscored the importance of the machine as she disclosed to pressmen the plight previously faced by farmers “formerly we were using a seventy year old machine which does not produce large quantities that other countries have and people were not aware of drinking coffee. They only knew about Nescafe but now that this machinery has come, they have seen it and they know that coffee is not sold only to Europe but it is also transformed so that we can take it in our own locality and we can produce good quality coffee in large quantities”
Picture: Officials at coffee plant inauguration
Given that the coffee plant is coming at a time when some farmers are yet to join NWCA which is consequently causing them to sell coffee by their own initiative where they battle with price instability and incorrect scaling and at a time when other farmers had low spirit in coffee farming given the stress in transformation and distribution, agric technicians have expressed hope that the ultra modern coffee plant would attract farmers into NWCA for a common benefit.