Rubber
The largest of the three crops, and entirely for export
- hectares planted
- 22,262
- Annual output
- 18,000 - 20,000 tons a year
Export
- Since 1947
- State owned
- Rooted
Rubber, oil palm and banana across 42,027 hectares of the Littoral and South West. The country's second largest employer after the state.
About the corporationGrowing Cameroon since 1947
4.0227° N, 9.2101° E · Bota, Limbe
The corporation
An agro-industrial company owned by the State of Cameroon
Incorporated in 1947 to acquire, develop and operate extensive plantations of tropical crops, CDC sits under the technical supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Three crops, two regions, and an industrial footprint that runs from the nursery to the factory floor. Most of what the corporation grows leaves the country. Its palm oil stays.
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In figures
The scale of the corporation
Figures as published by CDC. The headcount is theirs and needs confirming.
- 42,027hectares planted
- 22,036Total
- 8Processing sites
- 79years of operation
Our crops
Three crops, three different trades
Rubber is tapped over decades, banana is cut and shipped, palm fruit is pressed within hours of harvest. Each one dictates its own logistics.
Oil palm
The one crop sold at home, in bottles and jugs Cameroonians buy
- hectares planted
- 15,240
- Annual output
- 18,000 - 19,000 tons a year
Domestic
Banana
The smallest planted area and by far the largest tonnage
- hectares planted
- 4,525
- Annual output
- 90,000 - 110,000 tons a year
Export
On the ground
From the estates to the factories
Five rubber factories, three palm oil mills, and three expansion projects carrying the corporation into new regions.
- 2007Matouke Rubber ProjectLittoral Region6,000 ha
- 2011Donga Mantung Expansion ProjectNorth West Region10,000 ha
- 2011Manyu Expansion ProjectSouth West Region10,000 ha
Sustainability
20,000 hectares planned with smallholders
The Donga Mantung and Manyu projects do not create new CDC estates. They support growers on their own land, with nurseries on site.
Learn moreNews
Understanding the corporation
OperationsWhat low free fatty acid palm oil actually means
CDC describes its palm oil as low free fatty acid. It is the most useful number on the label, and it is decided in the hours between harvest and mill.
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ExpansionSix years from planting to first tapping
Matouke was planted in 2008 and first tapped in 2015. That gap is the single hardest thing about growing rubber, and it shapes how the expansion projects were designed.
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CropsThe smallest planted area, and the largest tonnage
Banana occupies a ninth of CDC's land and produces about five times the weight of its rubber. Reading the two figures together says a lot about how the corporation is balanced.
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