Yaounde November 25, 2013
The Head of State has signed today three decrees granting temporary concessions on agricultural land to SGSOC, Herakles Farms subsidiary in the Nguti, Toko and Mundemba sub divisions of the South West region of Cameroon. These decrees reveal, in several ways, some disconnect with the practices observed in the field since the signing of the Establishment Convention between SGSOC and the State of Cameroon in 2009. The disconnect can be observed through the following points:
1 . The size of the concession: From the 73,000 hectares of land originally claimed by the company to an area of just under 20,000 hectares (19,843 ha precisely).
2. The land rent which has increased from 250 and 500 CFA francs per hectare per year (amount prescribed in the Establishment Convention) to an amount of just over 3,000 CFA francs per hectare per year (3 .333 CFA exactly).
3. The duration of the concession from 99 years to a provisional concession period of 3 years, with possible extension depending on the compliance of SGSOC to its investment commitments.
At first glance, the irregularities in this project which have been pointed out by many observers over the past three years appear to have been corrected. However, what can be
observed is that the current presidential decrees now provide some legality to the presence and activities of SGSOC in the area which the company wrongly claimed that it had
rights to develop its activities for 4 years. The decree has paradoxically exposed the company’s past illegalities, and recurrent failure to respect the laws of Cameroon.”
We welcome these efforts to take in to account the objections expressed in recent years about the project , but we are obliged to note that the presidential decrees signed today does
not meet the challenge of transforming the project into an acceptable investment, “declared Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo, Coordinator of RELUFA.
In principle, many questions remain and continue to invite suspicion. For example, nothing is said about the recurring complaints by communities who feel they have not given their consent to the sale of their traditional lands, with fear that tensions and conflicts that may arise from an impending land shortage. “Over the past four years, the company
did not demonstrate its willingness to respect the law and the communities in the area where it is established. Cameroon must avoid giving the impression that it is ready to welcome at any cost companies on its territory, in areas as sensitive as land management. It is urgent that a national policy on the sale of farmland with rigorous selection criteria for investors in this area is adopted in order not to repeat experiments such as that of SGSOC, “declared Samuel Nguiffo, Secretary General of the CED.
The decrees have said nothing about the timber from forest clearing, even though there are reports that it has already attracted a lot of interest from the company. With the entry into force of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Cameroon and the European Union, which provides that only legal timber be commercialized, it is important to know that all observers will be attentive to the strict compliance with forest legislation in the operations of SGSOC.
The SGSOC project is the first in this new wave of investments in large scale land acquisition in Cameroon, and we urge the Government to learn from this experience by adopting an urgent national policy on land management and development of agro-industries, which must take into account, among other objectives, long-term interests of communities and the need to preserve our food sovereignty.
For more information, please contact:
Samuel Nguiffo Jaff Napoleon
Secretary General of CED Coordinator of RELUFA
Tel: 00237 9995 2849 Tel: 00237 7049 9406
snguiffo@cedcameroun.org jnbamenjo@relufa.org
www.cedcameroun.org www.relufa.org
Mireille Tchiako, Communications Officer (CED)
Tel: 00237 7012 7324
Email: mtchiako@cedcameroun.org/mireille_19@live.f
