PAMOL Plantations Cameroon Detail Description

PAMOL Plantations PLC is an agro-industrial company with head office in Lobe Ndian Division of the South West Region of Cameroon.

Ndian division is one of the six administrative units that constitute the South West Region with its headquarters in Mundemba. Ndian has a surface area of 6,165km2 (25% of the region).

The population (17% urban and 83% rural) in 2010 was 118,465 comprising 63,065 women and 55,399 men (SOWELA projections, 2014) representing a population density of about 22 inhabitants per km2.

This is largely due to the inaccessibility and the unfertile soils (feralitic /sandy).  The division is very low and indented point of contact with the Atlantic sea. It has an amphibious area dominated by mangroves and creeks which make it difficult to penetrate and difficult be accessed by land especially during the raining season.

The use of creeks and canals as means of transport is not regular. Numerous sandbanks render access to sea difficult and limit movement only through small boats.

Even though the division is close to the sea (Bakassi coast), there is little or no portable drinking water during the dry season coupled with the lack of better hospitals and quality staff, food, schools and administrative offices make life difficult. There is a lot of marine erosion going on in the delta zone of the Ndian River.

The dense tropical forest with numerous rivers is located in the Toko area which is sparsely populated due to the undulating terrain, lack of roads, and the presence of numerous conservation organizations, agro industries like CDC in Bamusso sub division and HERAKLES in Fabe and Lipenja located in Mundemba and Toko sub division respectively.

Ndian Division has nine sub divisions including Dikome Balue, EkondoTiti, Mundemba, Toko, Isangele, Idabato, Kombo Itindi, Kombo Abedimo and Bamusso.

PAMOL Plantations PLC is a gigantic agro-industrial establishment with a labour force of over 3.320 (direct and indirect employment), managing three Estates with Oil Palm “red gold” and Rubber as main cash crops.

The Estates include Ndian and Lobe, specialized in the production of palm oil and Bai expanding in the rubber sector, all covering a total surface area of 10.368 hectares of landmass under its operational command.

Apart from these main estates, the company developed 3000 hectares of palm at Ekondo-Nene and has an ongoing project of 1000 hectares at Mosongeselle. Among these estates, Ndian estate is the largest assisted by Lobe then Bai. Within the Ndianestate PAMOL has five divisions that is Mundimba camp, Mana, Makeke, Ikassa, Center 1, 2 and 3. Lobe has Bekora, Ngolo Metoko, Lobe and Bongongo while BAI estate is made up of BAI palm fields 1, 2, and 3 and Bai rubber fields 1, 2 and 3. Ekondo-Nene has three fields 1, 2 and 3.

PAMOL Plantations PLC has had world recognition for producing quality palm oil three times produce in their two mills factories located in Lobe and Ndian.

The mill factory in Ndian has a capacity of producing fifteen tons of palm oil in one hour and employs forty one persons while the mill factory at Lobe has a milling capacity of fourteen tons of palm oil in one hour and employs sixty four persons.

However, this mill in Lobe has a department where soap is produced. Equally, these two estates have hospitals with resident medical doctors and the wards stratified base on status that from Top management to middle management and the operational management to general labour.  Summarily, PAMOL has six major branches   which constitute the size of the company as follows, Lobe Estate, Ndian Estate, Bai Estate, Ekondo–Nene, Mosongeselle the current site under development and the Douala branch office.

The initial owners of today’s PAMOL Plantations PLC were Unilever and PAMOL Plantations Limited Cameroon (PPLC).

Before the advent of the birth of PAMOL Plantations PLC on July 10, 1996 as a parastatal registered under the laws of Cameroon and governed by the OHADA treaty, the agro-industrial establishment had witnessed some hurdles, faced some teething problems that saw it put on liquidation after the departure of Unilever.

Due to hard-work and dedication, management and determined staff refused to throw in the towel, the reason why the establishment survived liquidation and bounced back to business.

The Plantations’ numerous activities fall under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance.

The headquarters of PAMOL Plantations PLC is located in Lobe, Ndian Division of the South West Region of Cameroon, and operates on a fixed capital of FCFA 1.874 billion with the government of Cameroon having the lion’s share capital of 67.16 percent. 32.84 percent is owned by Para-public and private companies.

The two oil palm estates are in Ndian Division while the rubber estate is in Meme Division, 22km from Lobe. PAMOL Plantations PLC is governed by a 12-man Board of Directors representing government ministries, Parastatals, and the private sector and headed by a Board Chairman.

The Cameroon government constitutes the largest shareholding partner of 67.16% accrued from taxes owed by the Unilever brothers to the government of Cameroon. The others include UNILEVER, CNPS, SRC/BMBC, SHELL, SOCAPALM CDC SAFACAM, and SPFS.

PAMOL since 2011 has been involved in the extension of her estates. The company has two major extension projects related to planting of palm trees so as to meet up with the increasing demand for palm oil.

One of the major sites involved the planting 3000 hectares of palm trees at Ekondo Nene in Lobe Estates and the other involves the same activity at Mosongeselle and Idiba Nyanga in Isangalle Sub division to plant 1000 hactares of palms found within the Ndian Estate.

 Administratively, PAMOL is managed by a General Manager and assisted by a Deputy General Manager. Under this setup, there are five departments: Finance and Administration, Plantations and Research, Technical, Human Resources, Information Systems, and Internal Audit.

The administrative affairs of PAMOL are managed at its head office at Lobe Ndian. The Head office sets and manages the policies of the corporation and coordinates all activities.

The services under the head office include The General Manager’s Office and Deputy GM, Board Chairman’s Office, Human Resource Department, Finance Department, Information Systems Department, Project Coordination Unit and General Affairs Unit.