The Epic Journey of the Cameroon Development Corporation

Cameroon’s fertile southwest coast has witnessed an extraordinary agricultural saga – one that begins with colonial plantation roots and blossoms into fruits. This is the story of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), a journey spanning over a century from German colonial estates to a modern agro-industrial giant. It’s a tale of resilience and innovation, with twists as surprising as a banana named after a dance. Prepare to be awed by how a 19th-century plantation experiment grew into Cameroon’s second-largest employer and the proud producer of the famous Makossa Banana.

Colonial Beginnings: German Plantations Take Root

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, German colonisers in Cameroon weren’t interested in small-scale trading posts – they went big. They established sprawling plantations along the coast and around Mount Fako (Mount Cameroon), cultivating tropical cash crops on an unprecedented scale. Germany wanted access to tropical cash crops like cocoa, rubber, oil palm, and bananas. Massive plantations allowed for export-oriented agriculture, supplying raw materials to German industries (especially rubber and palm oil, critical for manufacturing). Unlike British colonies, where peasant farmers dominated agriculture, German Cameroon was all about plantation agriculture – directly managed by German firms and personnel. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, dozens of German-owned estates of rubber, oil palm, bananas, and other crops carpeted the fertile soils near Victoria (today’s Limbe) and beyond.

These plantations led to the building of roads, railways (e.g., the Douala–Nkongsamba line), and ports (Douala, Limbe). These connected the interior to the coast. To keep workers productive, plantation towns had clinics and worker camps.The plantations introduced many Cameroonians to the idea of wage work, creating a cash economy that previously didn’t exist in the same form. Missionaries (Basel Mission, Pallottines) ran schools near plantation zones to train catechists, clerks, and basic literate workers. Education was not universal—its main aim was to produce disciplined, semi-skilled labour for plantations and colonial administration. Some plantation workers were trained in carpentry, mechanics, and agriculture (often through apprenticeships). This created the first generation of Cameroonian “technicians” and clerks.

World War I abruptly upended this colonial agribusiness. Allied forces seized the German plantations as “enemy property.” Under League of Nations mandates from 1919, Cameroon was split – the French took the larger eastern portion, while Britain administered the west (Southern Cameroons). In French Cameroon, many ex-German plantations were sold off to French and local buyers. But in British Cameroons, something curious happened: no one else would buy the plantations, so many were actually bought back by their former German owners in the 1920s. This brief “German recolonisation” saw German planters return to run the estates, as British colonial policy preferred to let private capital or local farmers handle agriculture. The arrangement persisted through the 1930s – German-run plantations thriving once more under British supervision – until history repeated itself with World War II. In 1939, Germany’s renewed enemy status led Britain to expel the German proprietors and confiscate their assets yet again under the Custodian of Enemy Property. By the war’s end in 1945, German plantation enterprise in Cameroon was finished for good, leaving a huge question: who would run these extensive farms now?

Birth of the CDC under British Rule

The answer came in 1947 with the birth of the Cameroon Development Corporation. As British colonial administrators prepared Southern Cameroons for an uncertain future, they decided to merge the cluster of ex-German plantations (especially those around Mount Fako) under one public corporation. The CDC was formally established by ordinances in 1946 and began operations in 1947. Its mandate was not just to keep the plantations productive, but to do so for the benefit of local people – a notable mission in an era when colonial enterprises rarely spoke of local welfare. The idea was that this vast estate network, now unified, would be managed efficiently and uplift the economy of Southern Cameroons (then administered as part of Eastern Nigeria).

In its early years, the CDC was essentially a state-owned agro-industrial trust run by the British authorities. Rubber, palm oil, bananas, tea, and more – the corporation took over cultivating these crops on tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land. The head office was set up in Bota, near the coastal town of Limbe, right at the heart of the plantation zone. By 1958–59, as decolonisation loomed, the British even enlisted the Commonwealth Development Corporation (a U.K. development agency) as managing partner to invest in and modernise Cameroons’ plantation sector. This infusion of capital and expertise helped prepare the CDC for a post-colonial transition.

The winds of change swept through in 1961: British Southern Cameroons achieved independence by joining the newly independent Republic of Cameroon in a reunification deal. The CDC suddenly found itself in a new nation – no longer a colonial outpost, but a Cameroonian public corporation. The end of British rule brought challenges; for instance, Commonwealth funding and trade preferences (like easy access to the British banana market) were withdrawn, creating an economic jolt. Yet, the CDC endured these setbacks. The federal Cameroonian government stepped in with measures to support the corporation through the 1960s, determined to keep this agricultural powerhouse alive. The plantations were now truly Cameroonian soil worked for Cameroonian development, and the CDC’s story was only just beginning.

Growth, Challenges and Evolution in Independent Cameroon

Through the 1960s and beyond, the CDC grew and adapted as Cameroon forged its own identity. The newly sovereign state retained the CDC as a parastatal company – fully state-owned and dedicated to national development. This agro-industrial giant remained concentrated in the Southwest and Littoral regions, where the land and climate were ideal for its trio of main crops. Over time, management shifted from expatriates to Cameroonians (often termed “Cameroonisation”), integrating the corporation into the fabric of the nation. By the 1970s and 1980s, the CDC had expanded some operations and also faced the ups-and-downs of global commodity markets. Rubber prices, palm oil demand, banana market quotas – all these external factors meant the CDC had to be resilient and strategic to thrive.

One notable change was how the CDC positioned itself among other players in Cameroon’s plantation economy. New companies emerged, like Pamol Plantations (founded 1928) and Socapalm (1968), some of which were later privatised or acquired by multinational interests. Meanwhile, the CDC remained under state ownership, making it somewhat unique. In fact, to this day CDC and Pamol are the only major plantation companies in Cameroon that are still public entities, whereas others came under private multinationals. Being a public corporation meant CDC also carried social responsibilities – providing housing, healthcare, and schools for workers, and even engaging with smallholders at certain periods to support outgrower schemes.

Of course, CDC’s journey has not been without trials. It weathered economic storms such as the loss of preferential access to European banana markets in the 1990s, and more recently, the headwinds of security crises. In the late 2010s, conflict in Cameroon’s Southwest region disrupted some plantations, temporarily halving the workforce and production. But even in adversity, the CDC’s deep roots have allowed it to survive. The corporation has continually bounced back with replanting drives, new investments in equipment (like modern oil mills), and a focus on efficiency to remain a key player in Cameroon’s economy.

Rubber, Palm Oil and the Famous Makossa Banana

What does the CDC actually produce? In a word: essentials – the raw products that keep industries and kitchens running. Its vast estates cultivate three primary crops: rubber, oil palm, and banana, each in impressive quantities. Rubber trees covering over 22,000 hectares yield natural rubber latex, which the CDC processes into semi-finished rubber for export to manufacturers. Oil palm plantations (over 15,000 hectares) produce fresh fruit bunches that are milled into crude palm oil and palm kernel oil, used in everything from cooking to cosmetics. These commodities might not flash catchy brand names, but they are the backbone of Cameroon’s agro-industry.

Then there’s the banana, the star that brings a bit of showmanship to CDC’s portfolio. Bananas cover a smaller area (about 4,500 hectares) but pack a punch in both volume and visibility. The CDC grows high-quality dessert bananas, primarily of the Williams variety, and ships around 90,000 to 110,000 tons of bananas each year. What makes these bananas special (besides their quality) is the branding. In 2009, the CDC introduced the “Makossa” Banana – a premium brand named after Cameroon’s beloved makossa music, synonymous with a lively, home-grown flair. It was a bold marketing move: Makossa Banana became the first ever Cameroonian banana label aimed at European supermarkets, rather than being sold under foreign brands. As CDC’s General Manager at the time, Henry Njalla Quan, explained, “The Makossa banana is our brand name… I prefer to have Cameroon’s products in the European market with our label”. The goal was to give Cameroon’s bananas a unique identity and capture consumers’ imagination abroad – and it worked. Launched in France and the UK, Makossa Bananas set out to compete with global banana brands on grocery shelves, proudly emblazoned with a Cameroonian moniker.

To keep up with demand, CDC planned to expand its banana fields by another 2,000 hectares in the early 2010s. It partnered with expert distributors in Europe (for example, shipping green bananas to ripening facilities in France) to ensure Cameroonian bananas arrive fresh and sweet to customers. Beyond Makossa, CDC actually grades its bananas into several brands: “Makossa” for the top-quality fruits, “Sawa” and “Tiko” for other export-grade bananas. Even these names carry local flavour – Sawa nods to the coastal peoples of Cameroon, and Tiko is the coastal town that hosts CDC’s banana operations. With such branding, the CDC turned a simple fruit into a story, linking Cameroonian culture to dinner tables abroad.

A National Giant Today

From its humble start managing deserted colonial plantations, the CDC today stands tall as Cameroon’s agro-industrial behemoth. It is solely owned by the Cameroonian state and operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The corporation’s plantations span approximately 41,000 hectares of land – an area half the size of London – of which about 38,000 hectares are mature, productive estates. On this land grows the wealth of a nation: tidy rows of rubber trees, regimented oil palm groves, and waving fields of banana plants under the tropical sun.

Crucially, the CDC is not just about produce, but people. With a total workforce of around 22,000 employees in its heyday, it became the second-largest employer in Cameroon, after the government itself. (Even amid recent challenges, it employs close to 16,000 including seasonal workers.) Generations of Cameroonians in the Southwest have lived in CDC plantation camps, worked its fields and factories, and built communities around this enterprise. The corporation provides worker housing, healthcare, schools, and social amenities – essentially operating as a mini-civilian infrastructure in its areas. It’s often said that the CDC helped develop the region as much as the region developed the CDC.

Economically, the CDC remains a pillar of Cameroon’s export agriculture. Its rubber and palm oil feed local industries and earn foreign exchange abroad. Its banana exports contribute significantly to Cameroon’s ranking as one of Africa’s top banana exporters. The European Union has supported Cameroon’s banana sector (including CDC) through Banana Accompanying Measures to improve competitiveness. Through innovation, such as the Makossa brand and partnerships with multinationals (CDC works with Del Monte on two banana projects), the corporation has stayed relevant on the global stage.

From the era of Kaiser Wilhelm to the era of Makossa Bananas, the CDC’s journey is a source of wonder. What started as a colonial exploit has been transformed into a national asset – a company that mixes tradition with creativity (who else sells bananas named after a musical genre?). The Cameroon Development Corporation’s story isn’t just about crops; it’s about Cameroon itself, growing and thriving through history’s seasons. As long as the fertile volcanic soils of Mount Fako endure, one imagines the CDC will keep planting, harvesting, and reinventing itself – an epic plantation-to-portfolio tale that continues to inspire awe.