Herakles Farms: Major plantation downsize in the works?

Idle Herakles Farms truck, Fabe, Southwest Region, Cameroon.

Idled Herakles Farms truck, Fabe, Southwest Region, Cameroon.

 

In the latest twist in the Herakles Farms saga, a June 8th dispatch from Reuters says the Cameroonian government has asked the company to slash the size of its plantation from 73,000 hectares to 20,000 hectares. The report also suggests the site of the new 20,000 hectare development is yet to be determined.

A 20,000 hectare development would still be among the country’s largest plantations. Socapalm (part of the Bollore Group, which also directly owns 9,000 hectares ) has more acreage devoted to palm oil, spread over several sites. Pamol and CDC each cultivate less than 20,000 hectares. Sime Darby, Cargill and others are negotiating for larger tracts of land.

Will reducing the size of the Herakles Farms plantation allow project opponents and project supporters to find common ground? That is far from certain. In any case, this is not a done deal.  Here’s the Reuters article:

YAOUNDE, June 8 (Reuters) – Cameroon’s forestry ministry has asked a company owned by New York venture capital firm Herakles Capital to slash the size of its planned palm oil plantation to 20,000 hectares from 73,000, a senior ministry source said on Saturday.

Ministry officials said on Thursday they had given the green light to Herakles Farms to continue developing its proposed plantation, covering an area more than 10 times the size of Manhattan, provided it complied with regulations.

The ministry had ordered the company to suspend development of the site in April pending a review of the public usefulness of the project, agreed in a 2009 deal with the ministry of economy, planning and territorial development (MINEPAT).

“We have asked them to forget their original deal signed with MINEPAT. The new 20,000 hectare site has yet to be determined,” said the senior forestry ministry official who asked not to be identified.

A spokesman for Herakles Farms, Franklin Sone Bayen, declined to confirm or deny the information.

“The company is still in a process of negotiating with the Cameroonian government,” he told Reuters.

Environmental groups including Greenpeace and WWF have said the project violates Cameroon’s laws and could endanger wildlife and deprive locals of their livelihoods.

Herakles Farms has repeatedly said it has fully complied with Cameroonian law and the wishes of local communities.

Though the forestry minister has sent a letter to Herakles authorising it to proceed with the clearance of the forest and planting of palms, officials said the company still requires logging permissions from the ministry.

Palm oil is the world’s most widely produced vegetable oil and is used in everything from margarine and soap to biofuel. Annual production around the world is valued at about $20 billion. (Reporting by Beaugas-Orain Djoyum; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

One thought on “Herakles Farms: Major plantation downsize in the works?

  1. Some American financiers are warry of the bad practices of companies like Herakles Farms. Even if Cameroon goverment gave them a go ahead, they will need to reinvent their discourse to convince their funding partners that they will not lead them through another trail of lies. Secessionist or independenc clamouring groups in the parts claimed by Herakles Farms are becoming more vocal, stating that any contractual agreement with la Republique of Cameroun on the land they call Southern Cameroons will not be respected when that part becomes independent like South Sudan. They call their part of the Country UNO State of Cameroon covering over 90,000 square kilometers. This area comprises the South West and North West Regions of the present Cameroon and Taraba, Borno, and Adamawa States of Nigeria.

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