Noha Nyamedjo--Cameroon's fifth largest coca trader--will provide some 60,000 cocoa farmers in Cameroon with a boost to their livelihoods by investing in a high-tech processing plant that will significantly improve demand for the country's cocoa.

Cameroon is the world's fifth largest producer of cocoa beans, with around 90 percent of its annual production exported to western markets for processing. The sector accounts for 4.5 percent of total primary sector employment. Noha Nyamedjo's $24 million investment in Cameroon's first cocoa processing plant will help to support growth and diversification of this sector by creating new products for export including high-quality cocoa butter, powder and liquor in country.

Through this initiative, Noha Nyamedjo has committed to purchase an additional 5,000 tonnes of cocoa from local farmers and create full-time employment and training for about 145 employees at the processing plant.

Construction of the processing plant will begin in July 2011 and is expected to start operating by March 2012. Noha Nyamedjo has mobilized funds for the venture in collaboration with the Development Bank of Central African States.