Edea I Subdivision: How SOCAPALM’s replanting project threatening communities’ survival

The Guardian Post Cameroon | 10 May 2024

Edea I Subdivision: How SOCAPALM’s replanting project threatening communities’ survival.

by Macwalter Njapteh Refor

The Cameroon Palm Company, better known by its French acronym, SOCAPALM, is said to be one of the largest palm oil producers in the country, with its palm plantation units covering vast potions of land estimated at over 34,500 hectares of plantation.  While the palm oil giant can boast of its contribution to the Gross National Product, GDP, and employment situation of the country, its activities do not all augur well for most communities it surrounds.

This is the case of some five villages found along the Edea-Kribi stretch of road which are being adversely affected by the company’s activities.
The villages include Apouh à Ngock, Koukoué, Ongué, Nbonguem, and Dehane.

The population is protesting the replanting exercise which reportedly began in some areas in 2022 and 2023 for others.

“The problem we have here is the replanting by SOCAPALM and we are asking for vital space for our survival, but SOCAPALM does not want to cooperate,” Yomba Bernard, a notable of Apouh told The Guardian Post.

He added that not only is the replanting process implemented within few metres from villagers’ houses but also around the lone secondary school in the community, GBHS Ferme Suisse.

“I am even forced to do farming, which is my main source of livelihood, under high tension power transmission line with all the risks involved,” the notable added.

As concerns social projects carried out in the community, the notable indicated that the company has only two project, which are two boreholes dug for the community.

The grievances mentioned by the notable was corroborated by another inhabitant of the community, Ngon Ndoume Marie Therese. The woman, apparently in her late fifties, affirmed that they have been living in a precarious condition, further worsened in recent times since the commencement of SOCAPALM’s replanting in their area.

“We are living in a precarious situation and our big trouble is the replanting process. We have lived for over 30 years in this condition and we are imagining how we are going to continue witnessing the same condition with our children and grandchildren for another 30 or more years,” she said.
Further explaining their problems, Ndoume proclaimed that “for long now, we have asked SOCAPALM to give us space so that we can farm on, and we don’t have access to their palm plantation even to pick up palm fruits to eat”.

She also revealed that security agents of the company in question often beat up residents who venture to pick up fallen palm fruits while others are even locked up in cells for similar reason.

In addition, Ndoume said the community has dispatched several letters to authorities about the situation and held meetings with SOCAPALM’s hierarchy, yet the company is bent on implementing its replanting and expansion programme.

“We do not understand this, because we have been complaining for four years now but they are bent on replanting. We are now forced to go farm at a distance of over 30 km away in the Ocean Division despite us not having the means of carrying out such farming,” she asserted.

Desecration of sacred places

The population also accused SOCAPALM of exploiting sacred sites, abusive occupation of people’s homes, dumping wastewater and polluting rivers and their security agents frequently threatening local communities.

Ngon Ndoume noted that during the replanting process in 2023, the community pleaded with the agro-industrial company not to plant on the sacred cemetery of Song-Yatjeke for the memory of their late chief.

“I am the grandchild of the first chief of this village, but as you have seen, the palm trees are growing on the graveyard including on the tomb of our late chief,” she stated, adding that “we can’t breathe fresh air because the lagoon where they dump their waste from the factory pollutes the air and also kills all fishes in the river”.

Investigating the story, this reporter visited Apouh, one of the affected villages, and was keen to observe the exploitation of some sacred community sites like Song-Elohe and Song-Yatjeke graveyards.

The Song- Yatjeke graveyard, sacred to the Apouh community, was desecrated by the SOCAPALM replanting activities and barricades erected by security agents to prevent the population from gaining access.

The reporter’s guide, who opted for anonymity, said: “In 2020, we finally contacted SOCAPALM. As Africans and people with respect for tradition, we informed them that we have sites in their plantations where we perform our rituals and buried our dead, and that their security service was blocking off access”.

Indigenous association leading advocacy

In the face of the difficulties, the women of Apouh have formed an association called Association of Women Living Near SOCAPALM Edea, better known better known by its French acronym, AFRISE. The association, for some years now, has been leading the fight through advocacy for the indigenes’ interest.

The AFRISE President, Ngo Bissou Felicite, told The Guardian Post that they have carried out a lot of advocacies and held meetings with stakeholders pushing for a review of the stalemate.

However,  she said these have all fallen on deaf ears.

“It is not once that we have made an appeal to the Divisional Officer, Senior Divisional Officer or SOCAPALM itself with no favourable follow up,” the AFRISE president affirmed.

“They don’t even want to listen to our grievances anymore. I have even received threats from the Divisional Officer that if I one day again try to speak out on these happenings in our community, I will be responsible for whatever happens to me,” Ngo Bissou confessed, pledging to remain true to her cause.  
 
SOCAPALM DG fires back

In response to an open letter issued April 5 by the President of AFRISE, the SOCAPALM Director General, Dominique Cornet, has fired back at the association, saying the issues raised are aimed at tarnishing the image of the company.

Cornet’s letter, a copy of which The Guardian Post has seen, dated April 18, pointed out that the concerns being raised by AFRISE are unfounded.
“You imply that all sorts of negative actions (land grabbing, forestry, watercourses...) have been carried out by the company, and we strongly dispute this,” the SOCAPALM Director General stated.

While indicating their openness to constructive dialogue, the Director General stressed that the issues raised had been discussed on numerous occasions supervised by government authorities, and sees no wrongdoing in their operations in the area.

“We would like to reiterate here that we are talking about felling very old palm trees and replanting young seedlings, which is clearly stipulated in SOCAPALM's land title and is not open to discussion,” he had affirmed, insisting that their operations are “perfectly normal operations in the context of oil palm exploitation, and are carried out in strict compliance with the legal framework”.

Meanwhile, the Divisional Officer for Edea I Subdivision, Hector Eto Fame, acting on the instructions of the Senior Divisional Officer of Sanaga Maritime, had warned the association to refrain from any action likely to breach the peace of the area, else they will face sanctions provided for by the regulations in force.

It should be noted that the State owns at 22.36% of the shares of SOCAPALM with the majority shares of 67% belonging to Socfin.

Planted in three regions, the enterprise has six plantations in the Centre, Littoral and South regions, notably in Mbongo, Mbambou and Edea in the Sanaga Maritime Division; Kienke in the Ocean Division; Dibombari in the Moungo Division, and Eseka in the Nyong and Kelle Division.