CDC is on the brink of collapse – Lazare Minye

The Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, is said to be on the verge of tumbling. Management of the company is battling tooth and nail to remove the company from what has been described as a very bad situation.

Lazare Essimi Minye, Minister of Agriculture, confirmed the allegations during the installation ceremony of Benjamin Itoe as new Board Chairman of the corporation. “Your appointment comes up at a time when this corporation, which is one of the biggest agro-industries in Cameroon, is going through a very delicate period” He said.

According to the Minister, CDC, with its three lines of products, that is, Bananas, Palm Oil and Rubber, with a capital of FCFA 16 Billions, the CDC has always played a key role in the South West region and Cameroon’s economy.

“But of late the CDC has experienced low productivity of existing plantations, a drop in the price of rubber and more recently an increase in the minimum wage rate which will certainly impact its financial situation.”

The Minister’s assertions came to confirm that the corporation is in a very bad shape with much to be done to ensure its survival. According to our independent sources, the Corporation is faced with financial crisis stemming from the fact that its major products, Banana and Rubber are not doing well in the international market.

Pundits have wondered aloud why out of the over 22,000 workers in the company, over 4000 are in managerial positions in an Agro Industrial complex.

The Journal was informed that a whooping amount of FCFA 1.4 Billion is spent as salary per month by the management.

Our source at the Port hinted that for some time now rubber bales from the company have been stockpiled while about 30 pallets of Banana were rejected at the port on account of poor quality. The Minister of Agriculture appeared baffled during his field visit prior to the installation of the new Board Chairman.

He could not keep it to himself when he observed during the working session that lots of Bananas were being left to rot on the ground in the plantation probably because of low quality.

Despite justifications and explanations from top management on the issue of yield and productivity, the Minister passed on his message of innovation and review of the Companies business model.

Propelling solutions, the minister told management to pursue the regeneration of ageing plantations while using high potential crops and increasing farm sizes.

He also asked that the company modernises its processing units to meet up with the present standards in business adding that ways be invented to reduce production cost. In a nutshell, the Minister prayed that the Company revisit its business model and diversify its products. “If Banana is not doing well as a product, it could be transformed into Banana flour or make biscuits for the local market” the minister said. Since some of the present staff is old, he suggested that CDC be able to recruit new and seasoned engineers and technicians in order to be able to compete with others.

The Minister was aware that all these need financing - reason why he told reporters that “CDC has problems with accessing finance, but the government will do everything possible to make financing available to the company”

It is worth noting that this is not the first time the Minister is making such remarks in the CDC. In October 2012, he hinted that with the way the corporation was going, the government was planning to re-launch the process of the privatization of the company.

The privatization plans started some 12 years ago but met a stone wall resistance from the Bakweri Land Claims Committee and because CDC at the time was not at its optimum in terms of investments, and the price for its privatization was not worth the salt.

That October, the Minister had advised that the plantations be sold to small holders so that CDC becomes the main buyer and not the producer.

New board chair buys minister’s proposals Speaking to reporters in his first official interview as Board Chairman of the CDC, Benjamin Itoe said he was out for serious business.

He said the CDC had been doing well but with its traditional products, it cannot quite survive very well, “I think that the solution to this is to ensure that the CDC diversify its sources of income and its activities so that it embraces other sectors, which are more profitable than what we are getting from rubber, banana and palms” He said.

“We have very old plantations, which have gone beyond its productive capacities” He believes that what the General Manager is doing and the policies they are pursuing are to ensure that they rejuvenate and when that is done they are going to make more money.

“In my capacity as board chair, I intend to activate the entire labour force of the CDC on whom I express my confidence and in whom I assure my constant availability and my encouragement.” Itoe said.

Optimistic GM promises better days ahead Meanwhile, in the first ever edition of Inside CDC, a publication of the corporation, writing in the editorial, Franklin Ngoni Njie, GM, remains optimistic and promises better days ahead for the corporation.

“Ups and downs are normal in the affairs of every company. This is particularly true in the agro-industrial world. The Cameroon Development Corporation has not been shunned from them since its inception in 1974. Over the years, the CDC has proven its ability to overcome serious crisis and bounce back with astonishing vitality”

He added that the vast nature of the company’s immature fields and ongoing replanting of nearly 8.500 ha for the three crops is a pointer towards a brighter horizon.

While thanking the government of Cameroon for its constant support and hoping that they do even more to ensure the future of the corporation, Njie appreciated the readiness of both the General Assembly and the Board to assist the corporation’s management in its endeavors to resuscitate it.