Cameroon is stepping up its push to keep more value at home, commissioning a 1.05 billion FCFA coffee roasting unit in Bafoussam as part of a broader drive to move beyond raw exports.
The facility, inaugurated on March 12 by Agriculture Minister Gabriel Mbaïrobé, sits at the headquarters of UCCAO and is being billed as a turning point in the country’s coffee value chain.
For decades, Cameroon has exported green coffee beans, capturing only a fraction of the final market price. The new unit changes that equation. Equipped as a full processing chain, it allows beans to be roasted, packaged and branded locally—pushing the country into higher-value segments of the market.
The project reflects a public-private model. The state injected 700 million CFA francs, while UCCAO contributed 350 million CFA francs. To shield production from erratic power supply, the plant is backed by a 400 kVA generator and an 11-kW compressor, ensuring continuity in processing.
By processing coffee at origin, Cameroon aims to build a “Made in Cameroon” label that can compete both domestically and internationally.
On the ground, the government is pairing industrial investment with farm-level support. During the visit, Mbaïrobé distributed equipment and agricultural kits to producers under the Coffee Sector Revitalisation Support Project (PAREF-Café), targeting weak yields and ageing plantations.
The minister outlined a reform agenda centred on reorganising producers, renewing old farms and introducing climate-resilient plant varieties—measures seen as critical to sustaining supply for the new processing push.
Industry stakeholders are already looking ahead. Plans are in motion for an instant coffee production unit in the West Region, a step that would further deepen local transformation and open access to consumer-ready markets.
For UCCAO, the roasting plant marks its most significant upgrade in nearly 70 years. For Cameroon, it signals a strategic shift: from exporting raw commodities to exporting finished products—with value, jobs and branding retained at home.
Jude Viban
