Crisis and Neoliberal Reforms in Africa: Civil Society and Agro-Industry in Anglophone Cameroon�s Plantation Economy

8. Pamol’s contract farmers and cooperatives: Their development in response to the agro-industrial crisis

201 8 Pamol’s contract farmers and cooperatives: Their development in response to the agro-industrial crisis Introduction LiketheCDC,Pamolhasplayedapioneeringroleamongtheagro-industrial enterprises in Cameroon regarding contract farming. Soon after independence and reunification, it began a contract farming scheme near its oil palm estates in response to government requests to agroindustrialenterprisestoplayanintermediaryroleinregionaldevelopment . This chapter shows how the Pamol contract farming scheme was characterised by weak managerial control and supervision over the labour process and a large degree of social differentiation. A small group of large producers with close links to management and the state formed the core group of Pamol’s contract farmers, producing by far the largest and highest-quality output. They have proved, however, to be more dependent on the company’s transport and milling facilities than smaller producers who are often capable of processing their limited amounts of produce themselves if management fails to buy it for one reason or another. In this chapter I argue that large producers felt more threatened than the smaller ones during Pamol’s crisis and liquidation. They then decided to form a cooperative, claiming that it was going to protect not only their own interests but also those of smaller producers. However, it soon emerged that this cooperative lacked the bargaining power required to hold the management to the terms of the contract in a situation of severe marketing and liquidity problems. Faced with growing dissatisfaction among members who began looking for alternative milling facilities, the cooperative’s executive board tried to establish a larger measure of autonomy for the cooperative vis-à-vis the company by setting up transport and milling facilities of its own. 202 Crisis and Neoliberal Reforms in Africa The first part of this chapter describes the emergence and development of Pamol’s contract farming scheme up until the start of the company’s crisis. And in the second part, I assess the role played by the newly established cooperative in defending its members’ interests during Pamol’s financial crisis and liquidation. The emergence and development of Pamol’s contract farming scheme Unilever was already seriously contemplating the implementation of contract farming schemes in Africa by the end of the Second World War. In a memorandum to the Nigerian colonial administration in 1944 (Fieldhouse 1994: 211-12), the United Africa Company (UAC), Unilever’s most important subsidiary in Africa, proposed establishing oil palm contract farming schemes in Nigeria and British Cameroon based on the highly successful Gezira settler cotton scheme in Sudan (Gaitskell 1959). However after extensive discussions, no more was ever heard of this proposal. It was not until the early 1960s that Pamol made a renewed attempt to implement contract farming schemes in response to the federal government’s urgent request to existing agro-industrial enterprises to play an intermediary role in setting up contract farming schemes near their estates.1 During his ‘get to know the people tour’ in December 1963, J.N. Lafon, the Secretary of State for Local Government in the Federated State of West Cameroon, discussed the possibility of company assistance to smallholder oil palm producers in Ndian Division with divisional authorities and Pamol’s management.2 Pamol assured the Secretary of State that the company was ready ‘to assist the local population in the cultivation of this permanent crop of long-lasting value’. All the participants had high expectations for future Pamol contract farming schemes: The opportunity to establish such projects is favourable as Pamol has got good plant material, will provide advice freely, and is willing to buy the produce. Good land is available around the estates. All factors are present to make smallholder projects a success provided that the communities have sufficient interest.3 203 Chapter 8: Pamol’s contract farmers and cooperatives Following these discussions, a meeting was arranged with representatives from villages close to the Pamol estates. Mr Evans, the Pamol management’s representative, explained the purpose of contract farming schemes and the village representatives hailed the introduction of such schemes, saying that ‘they saw these schemes as excellent opportunities for economic development’. They added that they were in favour of the communal farming of oil palms and that the proceeds of their communal efforts would be used to set up village development projects. Both parties then agreed on their mutual obligations in the establishment of communal farms.4 Communal farming was undertaken not only by villages near the Pamol estates but also by various schools and...