Interview with Joel Owona, Program Manager, Green Commodity Landscape Program IDH (GCLP)

In this interview, Joel Owona, Program Manager, Green Commodity Landscape Program IDH, who has been working with the cocoa industry in Cameroon for many years, provides insights into the involvement of these industries in the actions of the Sustainable Cocoa Committee in Cameroon.

Question: How are industries engaged with the Committee?

Joel Owona: Through the Green Commodity Landscape Program, companies are driving commitments from the Roadmap for Deforestation-Free Cocoa, translating international initiatives into concrete actions at the local level.

These collective efforts aim to build a sustainable and traceable cocoa value chain while improving the livelihoods of producers and preserving local ecosystems. For example, in Ntui, Ngoro, and Mbangassina, IDH, in collaboration with two key players in the cocoa industry, has invested nearly €3.7 million, which will help improve the incomes of approximately 10,000 cocoa producers, geolocate their plots, and enable local communities to integrate into the industry’s traceability systems.

It is important to note that companies have made efforts by investing, for the first time, in forest protection, specifically in the projects led in Mbam and Kim; this will contribute to the protection and restoration of 15,000 hectares of community forests.

Question: What are the industries expectations?

Joel Owona: The expectations of the industry are numerous. They are reflected in the commitments they have made, although there are still recurring debates, particularly regarding how the databases—specifically the information related to producers contained within their databases—will be managed. I believe that the industry today would like to have an open dialogue with the government, specifically with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB), which are all state representatives in terms of data protection and representation of producers.

We believe that this dialogue is also established through the Sustainable Cocoa Committee in Cameroon, where the industry can better present its needs, activities, and actions aimed at making the cocoa sector sustainable in Cameroon.

- Interview by Anne Nzouankeu