Cocoa farmers in southeast Cameroon are adapting to EU regulations, but they still want a fair price

As Global Voices tells it, Cameroon's cocoa farmers are bracing for a new European Union regulation taking effect next year, requiring all cocoa imported into the EU to be deforestation-free, fully traceable, and legally produced. The challenge: prices have collapsed from around ten dollars per kilogram in twenty twenty-three to less than five dollars by July. Cameroon is the world's fifth-largest cocoa producer, but the price crash has hit farmers hard. They're adopting agroforestry best practices to comply—selectively harvesting trees to reduce disease and improve yields, working with the World Wildlife Fund to map their farms for traceability. Farmers say they're willing to do the work, but they want assurance that compliance will mean higher pay. Without real gains, as one farmer put it, the added effort simply won't be sustainable.

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