By Jude Efutercha (UB Journalism Student on Internship In Kumba)
The road from Kumba to Ndian is seasonal. It takes five hours in the dry season, but in the heart of the rainy season, one can spend about two days on this 130km distance. The road is characterized by dust in the dry season and mud in the rainy season.
Burnt PAMOL Oil Mill
During the dry season, the fare is FCFA 13.000 to and from Ndian, while in the rainy season it could rise to as much as FCFA 25.000. There are eight police and gendarme checkpoints, where both passengers and drivers are constantly harassed.
Drivers routinely "settle" police and gendarme officers, an amount, which ranges from FCFA 500 to FCFA 3.000 at each checkpoint. To make up for these expenses, drivers have resorted to overloading, practically doubling their passenger capacity.
Drivers also spend money on jobbers who pull out their automobiles at specific inaccessible spots. Despite all these obstacles and other inconveniences, life still thrives, albeit, relatively, in this part of the country, thanks to the existence of Pamol Plantations and the new team running this agro-industrial concern.
The new executive team of Pamol Plantations has changed the status of workers and the plantation as a whole, during its one ear at the helm. Headed by Obi Okpun Wanobi Osang as General Manager and HRH Chief Esoh Itoh as Chairman of the Board of Directors, the estates are located in Lobe and Ndian. Estate Managers head the plantations.
Management has reportedly invested so much on infrastructure such as road maintenance, electricity and water supply, repair of staff houses and sanitation. The General Manager in a message to the employees, called on them to assist him in achieving these goals.
Consequently, he has embarked on painting of staff houses. Toilet facilities are also being improved upon. Drugs of essential nature have been bought and placed at the disposal of sick employees. They are subsidized.
PAMOL Products
PAMOL Platations produces palm oil, palm kernel; kernel oil and soap. The Lobe estate produces about 28.000 tons of palm oil annually while Ndian produces 50.000 tons. Some of the palm nuts are bought from small holders around the plantation with one vehicle costing FCFA 35.000.
These products are sold to customers both within and outside the country. According to the General Manager, the sales have risen, thanks to an improvement in the quality of oil.
The Soap Factory
According to the soap factory Engineer, Simon Tabi Oben, this factory has been operating for three years, with an annual production of 32.000 cartons of 200 grams soap.
This year, the factory has been unable to reach this target due to depreciation of some of the equipment, which is often bought, second hand. There is also the high cost of production, which arises as a result of the expensive nature of chemicals needed in soap production and fuel.
Oben says that presently, the company's soap business is breaking even, as the quantity of soap produced, equals the total cost encountered in production. "I have decided to send most of my workers on leave because of low production and to avoid idleness in the factory," Oben told The Post.
According to the Engineer, the advantage PAMOL has from operating the soap factory is that whenever poor quality oil is realised and which wholesalers cannot purchase, the soap factory uses it for production, otherwise the oil would be dumped.
Ndian Oil Mill On Fire
The Ndian Oil Mill, fed by an estate with about 3500 employees, recently ceased production for two and a half months due to a fire disaster at the mill on April 30, 2006. The Technical Manager, Charles Nkiambuo after investigation, estimated that the company bore an extra cost of FCFA 100,000,000 transporting fruits from Ndian Estate to Lobe mill. The amount estimated for repairs was FCFA 300.000.000.
The estate manager said that during this period of break down, mill workers were assigned to different functions in the plantation. The fire disaster was caused by some technical fault and also due to the depreciated nature of the machines, the Estate Manager said. With new equipment bought by the management committee, the mill went operational again since a month ago.
Pilfering
Stealing is a common characteristic of the plantations .The Security Engineer estimated the quantity of fruits loss at 25 percent of the total harvest. He said the employees and their dependents, together with the neighbouring villages were responsible for this mess.
The Post was informed of how the General Manager called on all to help fight fruits theft, lamenting on the attitude of some workers who are involved in stealing or standing by and watching others take away with what belongs to them. "Fruit theft is a cankerworm which if we do not put on check, it will check our progress," the Manager reportedly warned.
To reduce the rate of stealing, some strategies have been implemented which include: incorporation of neighbouring villages to constitute vigilante gangs, increase in the number of fruit guards, bringing in of the military, thrice a week, to patrol the plantation and lastly by transporting crops as soon as they are harvested. Victims caught are usually handed over to law enforcement officers.
To ensure sustainability, the company has embarked on growing nurseries, in which about 5.000 palms are planted every year. Also, overgrown palms are cut down and replaced.
The company is also facing competition with other companies producing similar products such as the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC. To overcome this, the company has embarked on increasing its products to meet necessary demands.
Other Achievements
Workers' salaries are paid regularly and they also receive social benefits, retirement income, and a sum of FCFA 200.000 given to a bereaved employee. Also, part-time workers have been recruited as permanent workers. Following the November 2005 tornado that destroyed the houses of some workers, 20 houses have been repaired while all the houses in the estate have been painted.
A grant of FCFA 3 million was given to the Presbyterian Church that was blown down and FCFA 1,500,000 was given to the Catholic Church to assist in reconstruction work.
The Estate schools are also opened with greater care.
The company has embarked on the construction of a new Head Office with the notion that the former does not reflect the statute of the company. The company has spent more than FCFA 20 million for the maintenance of the Kumba-Ekondo Titi-Mundemba road.
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