Blog: Better Management of Cocoa Farming with the Global Positioning System

marc 1Technology and usage of ICT tools are nowadays, fully present in nearly all the fields of activities in developed countries (agriculture included). They introduced the Global Positionning System (GPS) through which nearly all sectors found an interest and eventually in agriculture. In Cameroon, grassroot farmers don't apprehend this and most don't believe such can be. A challenge the National Confederation of Cocoa Producers in Cameroon (CONAPROCAM) took by raising awareness to grassroot cocoa farmers, members of our organization, on the use and utility of a GPS.

Training sessions at the field level were carried out and are still are nowadays to member farmer’s organizations. This approach is aimed:

  • To enhance a better management of their agricultural lands thus rendering them more "agripreneurs";
  • To know the area of the agricultural land at hand and being a holder of a graphical chart with its various cartographical and geographical informations (waypoints, maxima and minima slope tendencies, etc.). This can be a guarantee when negotiating for financial credit and a mean to secure your land title; 

Some farm maintenance activities can be handled thanks to the aid of a GPS like evaluating the level of severity of disease infection in the farm, identifying the metric of land attacks and controlling the amount of inputs chipped in and chipped out to mitigate the threat. So, agripreneurship needs to be rendered conventional and modern through practice.

by Marc Chislain Bappa Se, Cameroon