State of Cameroon to bail out Société des plantations de Mbanga

Nothing is coming out of Société des plantations de Mbanga (SPM), Cameroon's third largest banana producer. According to Le Quotidien de l’Economie in its August 13, 2015 edition, "the situation remains chaotic, with several months of salary arrears due to the poor financial health. The operations are shut down since January 2014".

The paper described the company as neglected and "nothing works properly. Furniture and office equipment are covered with dust and mold."

"The discomfort is such that only a few employees working at the branch located at Freedom Boulevard in Douala, are still in office. All other directors are on leave," says a source to the newspaper.

This decay of the SPM would be due to financial mismanagement and according to the newspaper, to revive the banana sector, the state has decided to give a facelift to the company. "The State of Cameroon has decided per its acquisition to create a new entity on the rubble of this company. Incidentally, the Cameroonian authorities went to Brussels to request the return of aid from the European Union in banana the SPM has been deprived," reports the newspaper.

Waiting for the repurchase plan, the company is using (FCFA 480 million) granted by the State of Cameroon. A senior official of the company explained in the columns of the newspaper: "We expect the payment of part of assistance of FCFA 200 million granted by the government."

In 2008, the SPM had managed to rank third among the Cameroon banana producers with 40 000 tonnes.