Herakles Farms: Suspension or Business as Usual?
Clemence Tabodo Martiale, translated by Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo, RELUFA
Nasako Besingi and other activists pose besides a beacon, marking the boundary of the Herakles land concession in Fabe village, Cameroon. Photo Credit: SEFE Cameroon
In May 2013, Herakles Farms, the New York based company that intends to develop a palm oil plantation on several hectares of land in the Mundemba and Nguti subdivisions in the Southwest region of Cameroon, issued a public statement that it was halting its operations in Cameroon for an indefinite period. The Herakles Farms public statement came a few weeks after Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife ordered SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), the local subsidiary of Herakles Farms, on April 2, 2013, to stop the illegal felling of trees in the locality of Talangaye, a village within the company’s concession area, until it obtains a decree declaring its concession area a “public utility”.
This sudden bold step by the government of Cameroon was unexpected by most observers since the government has remained mostly silent on the subject despite the negative attention the Herakles Farms palm oil project has received from local communities and civil society organizations.
The suspension came as a result of the mobilization and advocacy of the local population, directly impacted by the large scale land acquisition, and Cameroonian and international Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including RELUFA, the Joining Hands network in Cameroon, that persistently challenged the legality of the project as well as the social, economic and environmental injustice that characterized it.
Just when people were contemplating whether the ministerial suspension meant the definite withdrawal of Herakles Farms from Cameroon, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife that issued the suspension letter paradoxically lifted the suspension on May 29, 2013 without stating clearly the rationale for the sudden shift. The project is still ridden with the same illegalities that prompted the suspension.
As early as 2010, Herakles Farms began destroying the forest to create its palm oil nurseries and although the government had signed the convention (contractual agreement) with the company, Herakles Farms had not yet obtained a land lease to legally begin its operations. Complaints from local communities about the Herakles Farms operations and project were reviewed in by the court system, which ordered Herakles Farms to stop operations at the time, but the order was not respected by the company.
Local communities and civil society organizations have persisted in their campaigns to expose the inconsistencies in the Herakles convention and the negative impacts on surrounding communities. Herakles Farms has countered the advocacy with a serious communications and public relations offensive to defend their project and clean-up their image.
But recently, the government of Cameroon began to abandon its stance of indifference. In February of 2013, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development announced that the Herakles Farms oil palm project would be reexamined. This was a clear signal that things would be changing. Although SGSOC signed the convention with the Government of Cameroon back in 2009, it is only now that a government ministry has finally expressed a position on the Herakles Farms project, which impacts approximately 14,000 people, mainly small farmers.
Civil society organizations campaigning on this project are preoccupied with food security in the concession area. The research report on “Agrarian systems and food security in the Nguti, Mundemba and TOKO sub divisions of the south west region” (not yet published), commissioned by Greenpeace and conducted by a Cameroonian organization ACDIC, advocates for alternative development strategies to protect natural resources and strengthen the capacity of local small scale farmers to ensure food security in the concession area which was threatened by the large scale palm oil plantation project.
On June 8, 2013, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife requested that Herakles Farms downsize their palm oil plantation from the originally planned 73,000 hectares to 20,000 (Reuters).
It is unclear how all of this will play out. Whatever the case, Cameroon has the right to economic development through encouraging foreign investment. However, it should not do so at the detriment of its citizens, 70% of whom depend on small scale farming for their livelihoods. Improving local food security should be a primary concern for public authorities and small-scale agriculture must be at the center of Cameroon’s development plans.
