Unilever, contract farmers and co‐operatives in Cameroon: Crisis and response

Abstract

This study examines the role of the contract farmers’ co‐operative associated with Pamol, a subsidiary of the giant Unilever company, in the South West Province of Anglophone Cameroon. This cooperative is dominated by a small stratum of large producers with close links to the Pamol management and the state. Although they are the most important contract farmers in terms of quantity and quality of produce, they are most dependent on the management for their supply of inputs, as well as for transport, processing and marketing facilities. Little wonder that they were the farmers who formed a co‐operative in the early 1980s, when deteriorating market conditions for palm oil threatened the company's continuing existence and the farmers’ chances for capital accumulation. Unable to force the management to keep to the terms of the contract, the executive board of the co‐operative tried to achieve a larger measure of autonomy vis‐à‐vis the company by creating nurseries and transport and processing facilities of its own.