In the heart of southern Cameroon, the Nkoemvone agricultural station spans over 300 hectares, with just ten currently cultivated. A paved road cuts through the site, dotted with crumbling buildings marked by a plaque identifying it as the «Station polyvalente agricole de Nkoemvone», under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Though weathered, the station remains operational, particularly in agronomic research, with cocoa plant distribution as its core activity.
Established in 1944, the Nkoemvone Cocoa Experiment Station stands as one of the last remnants of French colonial modernity in the region. Historian Hélène Blais describes such sites as «objet-jardin»—garden-objects—within the French colonial empire, especially during the 20th century, when plant reproduction dominated. Less documented than its counterparts like Senegal’s Bambey station, Nkoemvone played a key role in relocating and introducing plant varieties, particularly cocoa, to reshape colonized societies. Its ambitions, however, were short-lived, ultimately clashing with the challenges of an independent Cameroon.
From colonial experimentation to agrarian reform
The global economic crisis of 1929, though mitigated in colonial Africa by metropolitan support, forced French colonial policies into a profound shift. The collapse of the colonial trade economy pushed the state to invest in infrastructure and export crops while addressing the living conditions of colonized populations. This marked the emergence of a «developmentalist colonialism», a concept explored by scholars like Christophe Bonneuil.
The Brazzaville Conference (January 30–February 8, 1944), led by Charles de Gaulle, formalized this shift, aiming to revive the French economy while improving conditions for colonized peoples through planned development. In agricultural policy, a dominant narrative emerged: African societies, perceived as predominantly agrarian, required increased yields through massive agricultural investment. This logic spurred the creation of numerous agronomic research institutions across the French Empire, with Cameroon serving as a key testing ground.
On June 8, 1944, French Cameroon’s Governor Eugène Paul Carras dissolved the Technical Council for Agriculture and Livestock, replacing it with three distinct services: Agriculture, Livestock, and Forestry. This reorganization aimed to dedicate specialized resources to agriculture. Agronomist Pierre Barthe, former head of Cameroon’s Agriculture Service, noted in a 1946 report that the new Agriculture Service included research institutions, among which were three experimental stations in Dschang, Maroua, and Nkoemvone. While the first two dated to the interwar period, the Nkoemvone Cocoa Experiment Station, founded in 1944, epitomized the modernization of colonial agriculture.
A labor-intensive vision of progress
The establishment of the Nkoemvone station faced significant hurdles. According to agronomist Raymond Juliat, who led the Agriculture Service in 1944, the station initially lacked official documentation but was tasked with «selecting cocoa varieties to promote only high-yielding plants». By 1947, 300 hectares were requisitioned, but construction stalled due to labor shortages and material deficiencies. Despite these setbacks, the colonial administration reaffirmed the station’s role in research and experimentation in 1948, formalizing it through regulations the following year. Construction resumed with funding from the cocoa fund.
The question of forced labor loomed large. Jean Braudeau, the station’s director, reported in 1949 that the lack of personnel hindered construction, road development, and the creation of nurseries. He recruited temporary workers from nearby villages, often paid per task. Historian Léon Kaptué highlights that while forced recruitment was officially banned in 1947, the administration continued mobilizing coerced labor until 1949. To attract workers, the colonial administration built housing within the station—a common practice—as noted by historian Gwendolyn Wright. These workers were tasked not only with construction but also with agronomic research.
Achie Pacilly, who succeeded Braudeau in 1949, revealed that a labor camp was initially established with 20 huts made of local materials. By 1956, 58 permanent huts housed 130 to 140 families, resolving the labor shortage. Alongside worker housing, the station erected staff residences, research laboratories, potable water and electricity systems, an infirmary, and extensive facilities like nurseries and cocoa variety gardens. By 1959, on the eve of Cameroon’s independence, the station’s development was complete.
A tool of colonial propaganda
Beyond its scientific role, the Nkoemvone station served as a propaganda instrument for the French administration. The 1950s in Cameroon were marked by violent repression of Cameroonian nationalists, particularly in the cocoa-rich Bassa region. The station became a means to «win back hearts and minds».
In 1958, journalist and propaganda chief André Boyer produced a film, «Le Centre du cacaoyer de Nkoemvone», aimed at «returning strayed individuals to normal life and convincing the masses of the sincerity of the Cameroonian government’s nationalist actions». The station also showcased colonial achievements. A 1958 UN mission report on French-administered Cameroon noted that the station’s activities focused on selecting elite cocoa varieties and distributing cuttings to farmers to replace low-yielding plants, already yielding positive results.
Post-independence, the station’s propaganda role was repurposed by the government of President Ahmadou Ahidjo to enhance international prestige. The 1961–1962 station report recorded visits from the ambassadors of the United States and Germany, as well as three African heads of state: Philibert Tsiranana of Madagascar, Léon Mba of Gabon, and François Tombalbaye of Chad. Other visitors included the director of the École nationale d’administration in Paris and the World Bank’s Africa director. However, this international recognition coincided with the station’s gradual decline.
From colonial tutelage to post-independence neglect
After Cameroon’s independence in 1960, new states signed agreements with France to maintain French oversight in applied research. These agreements allowed France to continue administering the station, even appointing former colonial agronomists like Jacques Liabeuf as directors. As scholars Jean Gaillard, Hocine Khelfaoui, and Jean Nya Ngatchou noted, the Cameroonian government benefited by focusing resources on higher education while leaving scientific research to France. French oversight persisted until 1975.
In the decades that followed, the station entered a period of decline, exacerbated by the economic and social crises of the 1980s. The agronomic research sector faced severe financial strain, with national research programs halted and only externally funded projects continuing. Low salaries, delayed payments, and the devaluation of wages discouraged researchers, leading to the abandonment of programs, including those on cocoa at Nkoemvone. By the 1990s, the station was repurposed as a multidisciplinary agronomic research center under the Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (Irad), but the restructuring did little to improve its fortunes. Natural disasters, such as a violent storm in 2006 that destroyed experimental plots and damaged administrative buildings, further worsened the situation.
The station’s sheer size, a legacy of its extractivist ambitions, now poses a challenge to its rehabilitation. Its decline is not merely a result of state disengagement or economic crises but reflects deeper contradictions in a colonial modernity project whose grand ambitions clashed with postcolonial realities.
