Beni, January 20th, 2026 (CPA) – A conventional fine of two hundred kilograms of cocoa has been decided on Tuesday at a general meeting by the farmers in Beni, in Nord-Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, for anyone suspected of stealing this product.
« The purpose of today’s meeting was to bring together all the farmers involved in cocoa cultivation in Beni. We are victims of repeated night-time thefts in our fields, and it was necessary to find a solution to propose to the courts when a thief is arrested. He will pay the equivalent of 200 kg of cocoa as a fine,‘ has said Kamangura Kakule, president of the ’Mkulima n’a Haki yake » cooperative, an organisation representing all cocoa farmers in Beni.
He has specified that from this fine, the State’s transaction costs will be deducted, as well as the reimbursement to the farmer who was the victim of the theft. The assembly has also decided that all cocoa producers should pay a contribution of one kilogram of cocoa for each sale to help cover the costs of following up cases with the police and the public prosecutor’s office. The measure of imposing heavy fines on all thieves aims to discourage the multiple cases of cocoa theft recorded in the region, including the Beni region. In 2025, 240 cases of cocoa theft have been recorded in this region, where this product is the primary source of income for households. It should be noted that at a price of 12,650 Congolese francs per kilo, the fine of 200 kg is valued at 2,530,000 Congolese francs, or the equivalent of USD 1,100. A call for transparency has been made to tax collectors to enforce the agreed measure, especially as cocoa fields and temporary storage facilities are facing several security issues in the Beni region.