By Francis Tim Mbom
With some 266,000 oil palm seedlings already growing luxuriantly in a new oil palm seedling nursery at Bounjari Village, Bamusso Sub Division, Ndian Division of the Southwest Region, the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, is set to begin planting the very first oil palm trees in April, 2009.
Luxuriant nursery waiting for April planting
April's planting shall mark another milestone in the on-going operation launched in January 2008, by the General Manager of the CDC, Henry Njalla Quan, to develop 6000 hectares of land in the Boa Plain (Illoani) area with the planting of more oil palm trees within the next five years.
A field visit to the Boa Plain by a crew of some 30 pressmen on Thursday, December 18, led by Prince Charles Endeley, CDC's Communication Manager, revealed that the Corporation has already covered much ground.The Project Manager, Peter Forsah, who has been overseeing the day-to-day work in the Boa Plain, briefed journalists on the project.
He later took them round a vast field of young palms in polythene bags, growing with the aid of water from an irrigation system.Forsah disclosed that this was the 26-hectare nursery which the Corporation has developed where nursed seedlings shall be taken to feed the 6,000 hectares of farmland being prepared for the project.
"The first planting will be done in April 2009. These palms shall be expected to become mature by July 2012. We hope to arrive at a per hectare yield of 15 to 20 tons, and at the peak we hope to harvest over 85,000 tons of fresh fruit bunches per year," he added.
He said that for the good part of 2008 the CDC has been engaged in preparing the land that shall accommodate the 6,000 hectares of new oil palms.
He said for 2009, they shall have to plant the first 1000 hectares with some 200,000 seedlings. He further stated that some 700 hectares shall be planted in Boa while the remaining 300 hectares shall be planted in the three villages of Dikoume, Mbongo and Bounjari. The planting, Forsah added, shall continue progressively following this yearly quota for the next coming four years.
Forsah declared that the 6,000 hectares of new palms shall add up to the present 1,525 hectares of oil palms of the present Illoani Estate. When the project would have been completed, he said, the Corporation shall, for convenience, cleave the farms to form two new estates. "The 6,000 hectares will give room to two estates," Forsah affirmed.
"A Bold Step"
Earlier on, before the crew of reporters embarked on the journey to Boa, the General Manager of the CDC, Henry Njalla Quan, in a briefing, said that the decision to develop 6,000 hectares of oil palms in the Boa fields and 6,000 hectares of rubber in the Matouke area in Penda Mboko, was a bold step taken in a bid to redesign a new future for the CDC and for Cameroon, especially the youths.
"We took a bold step last year to expand the activities of this Corporation in order to give CDC the life span it deserves, because, personally, when I sit on the tribune every Youth Day and I see these young Cameroonians matching and passing, I wonder where they are marching to," he said.
"So, we decided to expand the activities of this Corporation…because as at that time we had covered a lot of grounds: we had cleared a lot of internal debts in the Corporation such as Social Insurance, taxation…we don't owe any bank as I am talking to you now. This Corporation does not owe any bank any money. We don't owe arrears of salaries. We are up to date in many things.
"We have launched programmes. We are recruiting and training young men and women to run the Corporation. And we launched these programmes: programmes of four and five years, at the end of which we must have created not less than 6000 jobs.
Njalla Quan added that with industrial agriculture fast becoming an activity for the rural areas, a dire need for the CDC to start relocating away from the urban areas like Limbe, was becoming very necessary.
"30 years ago, Limbe was an agricultural town. But today it is not. And so, the few plantations you see around here will disappear in the next 25 years or 30," he said."And so if we don't redesign CDC, if we don't relocate, CDC will fade out," Njalla Quan said.He went on to add that the reason for the new projects was to further enhance economic standings of CDC should it come to be privatised.
"… because CDC has to be privatised, we would want to give CDC a very solid economic stand so that whosoever is coming to bargain for it, if he has to do that, the price will be very high," he said.
New Oil Mill Plant
When the crew of journalists arrived in Boa, they were welcomed by the buzzing noise of a rumbling bulldozer, busy razing and tossing off soil on a vast site. On board this mass earth moving machine was the driver, Ebenzer Molika. "We have been on this site for the past two weeks," Molika said.
He explained that his business is to prepare the site where CDC has chosen for the planting of a new oil mill.Also, during the GM's earlier briefing, he disclosed that the equipment for the oil mill was already at the Douala Seaport, waiting to be evacuated to the site in Boa. He was up beat that by the close of 2009 palm oil would have started flowing from the new mill.
Meantime, on the site, the Project Manager for the Mill, Polycarp Chungong, told press men that the bulldozers were presently preparing the site for construction work to begin soonest. He said, the plant shall be mounted in April as well.
"Right now we are preparing the grounds for the installation of the mill proper. You must have noticed that when you came you saw the bulldozer doing what we call clearing of the site," Chungong said. "After this, "he went on" we shall progress to do the foundation of the mill proper. We anticipate that the installation of the mill will begin by mid March to early April."
From Chungong's estimates, the entire mill project alone is going to consume some FCFA 7 billion. They were keen on emphasising that the money being used for the financing of these multi-billion projects was entirely the sweat of the CDC workers being ploughed back in their farms in order to secure a more fruitful future for the Corporation and for millions of other Cameroonians. They insisted that the money is not a loan from anywhere.
Socio-economic Benefits
According to the GM and the Project Manager, the advent of projects to this area, which has not known development for well over the decades, shall come with a lot of economic and social blessings to the locals of these areas.
The Boa Plain is a vast area dotted with some 13 villages, most of them hamlets. The housing here is made up predominantly of thatches, with barely a few of them with zinc. While many light their houses with the help of bush lamps, only a few can boast of electrical generators. There is no pipe borne water nor are there any good roads.
But, the Project Manager said that the CDC has provided potable water to some of the localities like the village of Bounjari.About the road network, Forsah disclosed that the CDC plans to open up some 738 kilometres of roads in the area to facilitate movement. Besides, he said CDC will build new houses for workers as well as provide hospital facilities which shall go to benefit the entire population of the area.
"The most significant benefit of the project will be the development of an all weather motorable road throughout the Boa Plain, linking the existing villages with Mbonge and beyond," Forsah said.
He also said that the CDC has set aside some 2500 hectares of land which will eventually be released to the villages to enable them do farming and, especially, carry out a small holder schemes.
Forsah added that the CDC shall provide the locals with free expertise knowledge on the small holder scheme but they (small holders) shall be entitled to buy oil palm seedlings.
Chief Satisfied
The Chief of Mbongo Village, HRH Michael Ange Netomba, expressed satisfaction with coming of the project."The people of Mbongo and me are very happy to have CDC with us. This is the beginning of development in this area because we have been here for a long time and we have never seen this," Chief Metomba said.
Albeit the distance already covered by the project, there remains the grave problem of bad road to the Boa plain. From Kumba to the Boa, about two kilometres after Mbonge, it is a really rough ride. The road is muddy and almost impassable during the rainy season.
The GM said they have been lobbying with the Government to see if the road could be tarred, given the level of development that is being ushered into this part of the country.
Chungong had initially disclosed that the new oil mill shall be producing some 15 tons of oil per hour when the mill goes operational. Besides, there is a lot of cocoa grown in this part of the SW Region.
This, obviously, demands that there is need for a good road to the Boa Plain.Meantime, reports by the Paln and Development Manager, Henry Becke, indicate that the Matouke Rubber Project was also fast on course.
New Banana Project To Be Launched
With the oil palm and rubber projects already on-going, the GM announced that CDC will take another bold step come January 2009."I also wish to let you know that we are going to start a new banana development by January 2009. This is in response, again, to directives from the State.
So, we are going to participate in the increase of the Cameroon banana production to move the current national production from its present 250,000 tons to 400,000 tons in the next three to four years," Njalla said.
He went on to say that the new project shall cover some 1780 hectares of land and that the planting of the first suckers shall begin in April. "We shall start to develop 1750 hectares of bananas in three years; 500 of which we intend to plant in April next year,' he said. "So there is a lot of work for many people and we also believe that will help reduce crime and put some money in some needy people's pockets," he said.
In a further explanation, the GM said that the Bananas shall strictly carry CDC labels. He said that he was of the opinion that CDC and Cameroon could also benefit much if its bananas could also be served on board air planes flying out from Cameroon other than the current practice where only foreign fruits are served on board aircrafts to and from the country.
He promised that CDC will have to take an aggressive marketing approach when the time calls.
AS a former management staff of the CDC, I believe that while the expansion plans of primary production is laudable there is need for diversification in transforming the produce into final industrial products that have added value for internal as well as for the export market. It is long overdue to be exporting raw rubber, palm oil, palm kernels, to name just a few, to be processed abroad. Such a move, which is highly encouraged, will increase the prize tag of any projected privatization exercise, if at all needed, in the future. This suggested transformation will open up more job and training opportunities for the people in several areas and in the process make us more self sufficient and independent.
Menten-Alim Kumbongsi, Ph.D., P.Ag.
Former Management Staff: Moliwe Palms, Tiko and Mbonge Rubber Plantations.
Posted by: Dr. menten-Alim kumbongsi | Monday, 22 December 2008 at 09:18 PM