Presentation, mission and organization of the Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) of Cameroon

A. Nature of CCIB
The Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) was established in accordance with the 1990 Law on associations and based on the role assigned to the Interprofession by the 1991 Ordinance, Law No. 95/11 of 1995, and Decrees Nos. 97/130/PM and 97/131/PM of 1997.
The CCIB is made up of Professional Organizations in the sectors of Agriculture, Trade, Industry and Services of the cocoa/coffee sectors which subscribe to its By-laws and is an association dedicated to action, representation, coordination, liaison and information. Its By-laws drafted and approved in 1992 when it was established, were amended and adapted to the new context of the sectors- and to the new missions of the interprofession- by two Extraordinary General Assemblies (EGA) in 1995 and by one EGA in 1999.

B. CCIB Mission
According to the law on the cocoa and coffee sectors, the Interprofesional Board shall fulfil the following missions:
- give its opinion or make proposals on any issue or reform affecting the Cocoa and Coffee production and marketing system;
- define criteria for practising the professions of Cocoa and Coffee marketing and set moral standards for the smooth conduct of transactions;
- enforce rules guaranteeing sound and fair competition between operators, members of professional organizations affiliates of CCIB and adhering to these By-laws ;
- manage the Professional Mutual Caution and Guarantee Fund and within the framework of this fund, run professional insurance and reinsurance schemes;
- provide all Professional organizations making up the different colleges represented within its General Assembly, with any support and/or service needed to boost the efficiency of the interprofessional organization as a whole;
- represent professionals of the Cameroonian sectors at the level of international cocoa and coffee organizations.
The CCIB will undertake initiatives and actions extending beyond the scope of this list; notably in providing assistance to producers’ organizations in line with rural sector support projects, particularly with respect to the cocoa and coffee sectors.

a) The General Assembly
The CCIB is a collegiate organization. Consequently, under the terms of the 1990 Law on associations, its general assembly is made up 60 representatives of various colleges, with each college corresponding to a professional category involved in the production and marketing of cocoa and coffee:
First college : producers’ organizations : associations, trade unions, cooperative unions, Common Initiative Groups, accounting for at least 250 tons of cocoa (and/or coffee) with at least 100 members ; this college carries 40 % of votes at the General Assembly (24 delegates).
Second college: organizations of buyers, factory owners and packaging agents. This college has 10% of votes at the General Assembly (6 delegates).
Third college: Professional exporters’ organizations. This college takes up 40 % of votes at the General Assembly (24 delegates).
Fourth college: professional organizations of Industrial Processors. This college carries 10 % of votes at the General Assembly (6 delegates).


Organizations of Buyer factory owners, exporters and Processing Industries must have a production capacity of at least 20,000 tonnes of cocoa (and or coffee).
The colleges meet to appoint delegates to the General Assembly. Each college is made up of Regional Colleges which appoint their delegates to the General Assembly following a delegate apportioning system determined by the General Assembly. The CCIB currently comprises:

- about 100 producers’ organizations: cooperative unions and common initiative groups, Unions and Federations of these two groups;
- one organization of exporters, the Exporters’ Group (GEX) whose members sell more than 80% of products exported;
- the biggest Trade Union of Factory owners and buyers, SUACC (Cameroon Trade Union of Cocoa and Coffee Factory Owners and Buyers);
- one organization of Cocoa and Coffee processing industries.

b) Other bodies
They are made up of delegates appointed by the General Assembly, and their members are designated by delegates to the General Assembly. They include:
- The Executive Council: it is CCIB’s steering organ, whose Chairperson doubles as the President of the association. The EC has supreme authority to carry out the decisions of the General Assembly and controls the Permanent Secretariat;
- The Permanent Committee: is more specifically responsible for examining technical matters and practical aspects of the implementation of decisions;
- The Disciplinary Council: it sees to the respect of the code of ethics, and meets to decide on offences and disputes related thereto;
- The Permanent Secretariat: under the authority of the Executive Council and its chairperson, it implements resolutions of the GA, sees to the day to day running of CCIB, and discharges the secretarial duties of the other bodies. Its members are not elected.
Moreover, continued effort calls for the setting up of local extensions of the interprofession in production zones, in the form of CCAs(Divisional or Subdivisional CCIB committees) forming a national network, in order to promote an interprofession-oriented approach to farm gate marketing.

A deduction of 25 000 F CFA/ton is applied to cocoa and coffee exports, spread out as follows :
- NCCB: 5 000 CFA F + 1 500 CFA F for quality control + 2 000 CFA F for contributions to International Organizations (34 %);
- CCIB: 1 500 CFA F (6 %).
- Sector Development Fund: 15 000 CFA F / tonne (60%)

Owing to an extremely tight budget, CCIB relies on friendly organizations and donors to fund its non-institutional activities, for instance in providing support to producers and their organizations.