Nkoemvone: Cameroon’s colonial agricultural legacy and its enduring challenges

In Nkoemvone, located in southern Cameroon, a sprawling site spanning over three hundred hectares, with ten actively cultivated, stands as a testament to a bygone era. Marked by a paved road and dotted with weathered structures, a plaque identifies it as the “Nkoemvone polyvalent agricultural station,” operating under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Despite the advanced state of disrepair of many buildings, the station maintains a degree of activity, primarily in agronomic research, where the propagation and distribution of cocoa seedlings have become its central mission.

Established in 1944, this location represents a significant relic of colonial modernity. The “Nkoemvone Experimental Cocoa Station” aligns with what historian Hélène Blais describes as the “object-garden” within the French colonial empire, particularly during the 20th century when plant reproduction emerged as the dominant activity. Though less extensively documented than other colonial stations, such as the one in Bambey, Sénégal, Nkoemvone, like its counterparts, played a crucial role in the migration, displacement, introduction, and relocation of plants – specifically cocoa varieties. Its purpose was to instigate transformations within colonized societies. Ultimately, its operational history proved brief, with its ambitious goals clashing with the complexities of independent Cameroon.

The global economic and social crisis of 1929, though somewhat buffered in colonial Africa by metropolitan intervention, triggered a profound shift in French colonial policies. It effectively curtailed the traditional trade economy, compelling the colonial state to assume responsibility for infrastructure development and export crop cultivation. Concurrently, it necessitated a focus on improving the living conditions of the colonized populations. This marked the colonial state’s evolution into a “developmentalist” entity. This strategic pivot was further solidified during the Brazzaville Conference, held from January 30 to February 8, 1944, and chaired by Charles de Gaulle. The conference pursued a dual objective: revitalizing the French economy and enhancing the welfare of colonized peoples through planned development.

cultivating high-yielding varieties

Regarding agricultural policy, a prevailing narrative took hold: African societies were primarily viewed as peasant-based, implying that improving their welfare necessitated a significant increase in yields through substantial investment in agriculture. This rationale led to a proliferation of agronomic research institutions across the French Empire, with Cameroon serving as a prime observation ground. Through a decree issued on June 8, 1944, French Cameroon Governor Eugène Paul Carras dissolved the Technical Council for Agriculture and Livestock, replacing it with three distinct entities: the Agriculture Service, the Livestock Service, and the Forestry Service.

This reorganization transcended mere administrative adjustments, aiming to provide agriculture with a dedicated service. According to agronomist Pierre Barthe, a former head of Cameroon’s Agriculture Service, in a 1946 report, this new Agriculture Service was structured into several sub-services. One of these focused primarily on agronomic research institutions, encompassing three experimental stations situated in Dschang, Maroua, and Nkoemvone. All these stations were established during the interwar period, with the exception of the Nkoemvone experimental cocoa station, founded in 1944 following the June 8 reforms. It thus stands as a quintessential product of the colonial modernization efforts that emerged in the interwar years.

The Nkoemvone experimental cocoa station was progressively brought to fruition. According to agronomist Raymond Juliat, who headed the agriculture service in 1944, it initially lacked a formal official text and was tasked with “the selection of cocoa plants to propagate only good producers.” In 1947, three hundred hectares were earmarked for its establishment, but construction efforts stalled due to a scarcity of labor and materials, coupled with the “absence of a comprehensive plan.” Despite these hurdles, the colonial administration reaffirmed its commitment in 1948 to encompass all research and experimentation work, officially instituting it through a regulatory text the following year. Construction then commenced, financed by cocoa funds.

the controversy of forced labor

However, the establishment of the Nkoemvone experimental station encountered significant practical obstacles. As Jean Braudeau, the station’s director, noted in his 1949 annual report, a severe shortage of personnel hindered construction, road development, and the creation of a nursery and 15 hectares of plantations. Nonetheless, he managed to recruit some temporary workers from a village adjacent to the experimental station site, often paid on a task basis. The question of whether this labor was voluntary or coerced remains complex: although High Commissioner Renée Hoffherr began prohibiting forced recruitment upon her arrival in 1947, Cameroonian historian Léon Kaptué reminds us that the French administration continued to mobilize forced labor until 1949.

To attract workers from beyond the immediate region, the colonial administration opted to construct housing within the station grounds, a common practice among colonial administrations. These laborers were expected not only to contribute to the station’s construction but also to participate in agronomic research activities.

Agronomist Achille Pacilly, who succeeded Jean Braudeau as head of the experimental station in 1949, detailed the initial establishment of a workers’ camp comprising twenty cases built from local materials. By 1956, fifty-eight permanent cases were constructed, housing 130 to 140 families a few years later. The creation of this workers’ camp effectively resolved the labor issue.

In parallel with these worker dwellings, residences for administrative staff were also erected. The site further saw the addition of research laboratories, the provision of potable water and electricity, the construction of an infirmary, and numerous large-scale developments such as nurseries and collections of cocoa varieties. In essence, the station evolved into a complex where living spaces and research facilities were closely integrated. The station’s development concluded in 1959, just before Cameroon’s independence.

a tool for colonial influence

Beyond its scientific function, the Nkoemvone experimental station also served as an instrument of colonial propaganda for the French administration. This propaganda unfolded within a specific Cameroonian context, marked by the violent repression of Cameroonian nationalists by the French army during the 1950s. In the initial phase of this brutal conflict, primarily concentrated in the Bassa region of cocoa-producing South Cameroon, the Nkoemvone experimental station became a crucial tool in the effort to win over public opinion.

André Boyer, a journalist and head of the French administration’s propaganda service in the country, disseminated a film titled “The Nkoemvone Cocoa Center” to the local population in 1958. This film was part of a broader repertoire of techniques aimed, in his own words, at “bringing back the misguided to normal life and convincing the masses of the truly nationalist and sincere actions of the Cameroonian government.”

The experimental station also allowed the French colonial administration to showcase its perceived benefits in Cameroon. This is evident in the 1958 Report of the United Nations Visiting Mission to Trust Territories in West Africa concerning Cameroon under French administration. The rapporteurs and observers dispatched by the United Nations inspected the station on November 19, 1958, and stated: “(…) The activities of this station consist essentially of selecting the best cocoa varieties and producing cuttings for distribution to planters. It is hoped to thus replace current low-yielding trees in plantations with elite plants. The station has already yielded good results.”

This instrumentalization of the station for propaganda purposes was adopted by the government of Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, after independence, this time for international outreach. For instance, the station’s report covering 1961-1962 indicates that the institution hosted visits from the US Ambassador to Cameroon, the German Ambassador, and three African heads of state: Philibert Tsiranana of Madagascar, Léon Mba of Gabon, and François Tombalbaye of Chad. The director of the École Nationale d’Administration in Paris and the World Bank director for Africa also visited. However, this international prominence, serving the Cameroonian government, also signaled the beginning of a gradual decline.

french oversight until 1975

Following the independence movements of 1960, the newly formed states, including Cameroon, entered into agreements with France. These conventions stipulated “for applied research, an agreement on programs, mixed funding for operations, a quasi-commitment from France for investment financing, and, within this general framework, the establishment of specific agreements detailing the modalities of implementation and management for specialized institutes deemed necessary.”

These agreements enabled France to continue administering the station, for example, through the appointment of former colonial agronomists like Jacques Liabeuf as director. As Jean Gaillard, Hocine Khelfaoui, and Jean Nya Ngatchou highlighted in a 2000 publication, the new Cameroonian state found this arrangement beneficial, allowing it to concentrate its resources on higher education and training, while entrusting scientific research to France. French oversight eventually concluded in 1975.

In the subsequent decades, the station entered a period of decline, exacerbated by the economic and social crisis of the 1980s. This crisis severely impacted Cameroonian agronomic research, which “experienced a grave financial situation and a modification in its budget structure,” according to the aforementioned authors, leading to a stagnation of research within its facilities.

extractivist ambitions become an obstacle

The crisis afflicting Cameroonian agricultural research mirrored a broader downturn across the nation’s scientific sector. During its most acute phase, from 1990 to 1996, “nationally funded research programs ceased; only programs and projects benefiting from external financial contributions continued more or less normally, due to delays in personnel salary payments.” This situation resulted in reduced funding, researcher demoralization linked to salary devaluation, and the abandonment of numerous programs, including those focused on cocoa at the Nkoemvone station, where scientific activity virtually halted.

By the early 1990s, the station underwent a transformation into a polyvalent agricultural research station, placed under the authority of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), established by presidential decree in 1996 and reorganized in 2002. This restructuring, however, did little to improve the institution’s deteriorating condition. The gradual decay caused by economic crises was compounded by natural factors, further worsening the state of disrepair at the Nkoemvone station. On March 17, 2006, Cameroun Tribune published an article titled “Will the Nkoemvone Station Recover?”, in which journalist Paul Eboa revealed that a violent storm, just days earlier, had destroyed plant trial areas, damaged the administrative block, and ravaged numerous housing units. Since then, the situation has not improved.

Paradoxically, the very size of the site, a legacy of the station’s extractivist ambitions as a hub for cocoa knowledge production and environmental transformation, now poses an obstacle to its rehabilitation due to insufficient resources. This state of relative abandonment is not solely attributable to state disengagement, justified by successive crises and natural hazards. More profoundly, it exposes the inherent contradictions of a colonial modernity project whose ambitious scale and extractivist imaginaries clash with the far more complex realities of the postcolonial era.