Land Grab in Cameroon: Learning in the Field
By Cathy Murphy, Coordinator of Joining Hands in the Presbytery of Twin Cities
Nasako Besingi, , the Director of the local organization SEFE, standing in front of a Herakles sign. Photos: Valery Nodem
Land grab. I thought that I knew what the words meant . . . until I went to Cameroon.
A U.S.-owned company, Herakles Farms, has proposed a palm oil plantation in Cameroon that clearly demonstrates the threat posed by land grabbing. The project covers 73,086 hectares (180,599 acres) of forest and existing farmland and is home to an estimated 20,000 people, mostly small farmers. Residents are fiercely opposing the plantation, fearing it will deprive them of their farmland and access to forest products. International and Cameroonian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and scientists are also critical of the project on the grounds of illegality, social and economic injustice and environmental destruction.
Currently, most of the palm oil is harvested by small “artisanal” companies, which would have a hard time competing with this new venture; the contract which the government signed with Herakles leases the land to them for 99 years at a starting rate of $1/hectare, with no tax liability for the first 10 years.
Artisanal production of palm oil on a private farm.
When we visited one of these small operations, and asked them what the government could do that would be helpful, they mentioned providing improved loan access and lower taxes. The small producers were shocked to discover that while Herakles received a ten year tax waiver that they were still obligated to pay more in taxes each than a large multinational corporation.
The affected communities fear that clearing the rainforest will increase hunger and poverty by raising food costs and reducing forest access. Our Joining Hands partner in Cameroon – RELUFA – is one of the groups lifting up the voices of affected communities in opposition to the Herakles project.
RELUFA is partnering with several local groups some of which we were able to visit:
- Association for the Defense of Collective Interests (ACDIC): Bernard and Yvonne described their work assisting farmers with technical and organizational help. The proposed Herakles project is in a region that is already food insecure and suffers from a lack of government attention and investment, as well as suffers from a high level of political corruption.
- Center for Environment and Development (CED):Samuel explained the problems with the land leasing process in Cameroon; multiple concessions are often given for the same land, and there is a lack of good governance and oversight.
- National “Justice and Peace” Commission of the Catholic Church of Cameroon:David listed their work priorities – corruption, election transparency, prison reform, etc.
Then our group, myself, Pastor Jeff Kackley, Jacques Bahati from the Africa Faith & Justice Network, Valery Nodem from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Jeff Bamenjo and Clemence Tabodo from RELUFA, took a trip to visit the proposed plantation concession area. The rainforest is stunningly beautiful. The roads are treacherous, and often impassible. In Mundemba, the town closest to the Herakles concession area, we met Nasako Besingi – head of a local organization, Struggle to Economize the Future Environment (SEFE). He has been educating and organizing against the project, and has already been arrested by the government and sued by the company. We also spoke with a village chief, who explained to us that the project was unlikely to provide the benefits promised, and he is communicating that reality to his people.
Cathy and Nasako Besingi talking near the edge of the rainforest.
What are we called to do now as Joining Hands partners? Due to the brazen corruption involved in the contract process, a complaint has been filed by Cameroonian organizations with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We plan to ask key Senators to send a letter to the U.S. State Department insisting that we be given a U.S. OECD contact person and requesting official comment regarding the OECD complaint. Longer term, our goal will be to inform and educate local congregations and enlist their help with advocacy and fundraising.
Even longer term, we need to brainstorm ways to make the systemic changes necessary to end land grabbing. Currently, foreign investment in land tends to be large scale and detrimental to local livelihoods. Farmers are often put at risk of becoming mere plantation laborers. The systemic changes needed to end land grabbing will come when public investment and investments in small-scale farming become greater priorities.
Under free trade agreements and structural adjustment policies, governments were forced to reduce their budgets, state-driven investments in agriculture dried up, while investments in small-scale farming almost disappeared. It is the combination of state and small farming investments that make any systemic change to end land grabbing possible. As the High Level Panel of Experts from the FAO-based World Committee on Food Security recommends “governments should prioritize investment in the small farm sector and in alternative food systems that are socially inclusive and just as well as environmentally sustainable, using agro-ecological principles.”
