Being plagued by heavy rains, cocoa farmers in southwest Cameroon will get a boost to their crops as the government has announced a plan to use renewable energy to dry their cocoa beans. The region suffers from a rainy season that lasts for 9-10 months, but an initiative by Women for Green Growth (WGG) is trying to change the negative effects of rain on one of the country’s major crops.
The process to dry cocoa beans would use solar energy to slowly dry the beans and biogas to provide supplemental drying, according to WGG member Martha Molinge. Another positive aspect of the solar/biogas technique would be to reduce deforestation which could spread and be implemented in other cocoa rich areas like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria.
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