By Noela EBOB BISONG
Within the framework of the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, PPRD-NW/SW, the two agro-industrial giants of the South West Region, Cameroon Development Corporation CDC and Pamol Plantations PLC are in a partnership with Turkish Company DOGANLAR TARIM, for the production and supply of efficient agricultural tools and equipment to boost production.
A delegation from the European company, headed by its CEO, Nesrin Dogan, alongside two other collaborators (Uysal Cetin and Seren Oz) was in the South West on Tuesday, August 5, to get on-the-ground information regarding the needs of the two companies, so as to aid the production process.
By 9am, the delegation arrived the CDC banana factory in Old Pondo, Tiko, where it had exchanges with the Corporation’s top management on various aspects, including the present state and numbers of heavy equipment at the Corporation, the level of production, the soil type at the banana estate, drainage system, manure production etc. This was followed by a visit to the oil palm plantation in Debunscha, West Coast Subdivision, where the team again spent time to discuss with CDC management on the production process and difficulties being encountered.
The next stop was at the temporarily set up head office of Pamol Plantations Plc in GRA Bota Limbe, where the visiting team met with the General Manager of Pamol, Mbile Tapea Solomon, who after warmly receiving the delegation, held a brief working session at the board room of the company. The GM briefed the team on the mission of Pamol, its strides and present challenges. The CEO of the Turkish company, Nesrin Dogan revealed to Pamol GM that their mission within the partnership is not only to produce and supply the needed equipment to boost yields but also to assist in other aspects like expertise, training of staff and building up the capacities of agricultural students across schools in Cameroon.
From Pamol, the team then moved to the board room of the CDC, where a joint session was held with the delegation, with top management staff of CDC and Pamol. During the session, a technical presentation was made of the state of CDC’s equipment, and exchanges followed from staff of the two corporations on the current needs of their establishments. The visit was coordinated by the PPRD National Coordinator, Mofuba Tamajong Obase.
According to Henry Becke, Director of Projects and Research in CDC, “This is a follow-up visit because in April we were there (Turkey), under the auspices of the PPRD-NW/SW. It is very obvious that when you have problems, you seek solutions. The socio-political crisis in the North West and South West dealt a serious blow in CDC. Also, we have about 3000km of earth roads that have been abandoned for a long time. The production in the plantations is not only from the trees; its a whole cycle whereby the road network must be in good condition and the factories as well. So we are highly expectant from this team because, during our visit in Turkey, we saw appropriate equipment to help us in the farms. So we are thinking of bulldozers, graders and equally transportation equipment to carry our products from the farms like tractors etc. Like the national coordinator said, the government is expecting us to quadruple production. With the commitment of the government and all the new equipment and tools, production will bounce back to what it was in the pre-crisis years.”
In her intervention to the press, the CEO of DOGANLAR TARIM, Nesrin Dogan said, “Our aim is to develop Cameroon’s agricultural equipment and boost production in the sector. We have listened keenly to what they want and we are going to work on it. This is a big, long term partnership to develop agriculture in Cameroon”, she said.
Expectations are high that the joint partnership will yield visible results in the near future and jam back the two agro-industrial companies to life, after telling challenges over the past eight years.