Members of six oil palm farmers’ cooperatives in the South West Region have resolved to modernize their activities to boost Cameroon’s position as the fourth oil palm producer in Africa. They observed that to achieve their goal, the environment must be well protected and their trade enhanced.

The smallholder cooperatives from Ekondo Titi and Bonjare Balondo (Ndian Division), Tiko and Buea (Fako) and Tombel and Nguti (Kupe Muanenguba), met in Buea recently for training.

Under the aegis of the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) and the Environmental Governance Institute (EGI), the oil palm cooperative members were schooled on the economic, social and environmental sustainability in oil palm farming.

Equally underscored at the training were leadership and democratic values to develop cooperative business plans and best agricultural/ environmental practices.

It was disclosed that Cameroon produces 270,000 metric tonnes of palm oil per annum, coming behind Nigeria with 970,000 tonnes, Ghana with 500,000 tonnes and Cote d’Ivoire with 415,000 tonnes.

Of the 270,000 tonnes produced in Cameroon, smallholders across the country account for 91,759 tonnes, underscoring their importance in the national palm oil production chain.

The South West cooperatives as smallholders are supposed to work together with big holders like Pamol Plantations and the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC).

Of recent, it was noted that some of the local producers were selling fresh nuts and even finished oil individually to a neighbouring country without passing through the cooperatives, a situation that puts them in economic peril.

Reason why experts at the training warned that cooperative practices were best in business so that dividends are equitably distributed, the environment better sustained and awareness-raising better organised.