In the heart of southern Cameroon, the Nkoemvone site spans over 300 hectares, with only ten actively maintained. A paved road cuts through the area, dotted with dilapidated buildings and marked by a plaque identifying it as the ‘Nkoemvone multipurpose agricultural station’, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. While the physical structures show signs of neglect, the station remains operational, particularly in agronomic research, where cocoa plant propagation and distribution have become its core activities.
Established in 1944, this site is a striking remnant of colonial modernity. Known as the ‘Nkoemvone cocoa research station’, it embodies what historian Hélène Blais describes as a ‘garden-object’ within the French colonial empire, particularly during the 20th century when plant reproduction dominated colonial activities. Though less documented than other stations like Bambey in Senegal, Nkoemvone, like its counterparts, played a role in relocating and introducing plant varieties—specifically cocoa—aimed at transforming the societies under colonial rule. Its history, however, would prove brief, with its ambitions clashing against the challenges of an independent Cameroon.
Colonial ambitions and economic shifts
The global economic crisis of 1929, though mitigated in colonized Africa by the metropolitan power’s stabilizing role, triggered a profound shift in French colonial policies. The ‘trading economy’ was condemned, pushing the colonial state to take charge of infrastructure and export crops while addressing the living conditions of colonized populations. This marked the emergence of a ‘developmentalist’ colonial state, a shift that was solidified during the Brazzaville Conference from January 30 to February 8, 1944, chaired by Charles de Gaulle. The conference pursued a dual objective: revitalizing the French economy and improving the lives of the colonized through planned development.
Research stations as tools of modernization
In agricultural matters, a dominant narrative emerged: African societies were perceived as primarily agrarian, and their progress hinged on boosting productivity through massive agricultural investment. This logic led to the proliferation of agronomic research institutions across the French Empire, with Cameroon serving as a key testing ground. On June 8, 1944, French Cameroon Governor Eugène Paul Carras dissolved the Technical Council for Agriculture and Livestock, replacing it with three separate services: Agriculture, Livestock, and Forestry.
This reorganization was more than an administrative measure; it aimed to create a dedicated agricultural service. According to agronomist Pierre Barthe, head of the Cameroon Agriculture Service in 1946, the new service was structured into several subdivisions, including dedicated agronomic research institutions. Among them were three experimental stations in Dschang, Maroua, and Nkoemvone. While most stations dated back to the interwar period, the Nkoemvone cocoa research station, founded in 1944 following the June 8 reforms, was a product of this era of colonial modernization.
From vision to reality: challenges of implementation
The Nkoemvone cocoa research station was gradually established. According to agronomist Raymond Juliat, who led the Agriculture Service in 1944, the station initially lacked formal legal status. Its primary role was to ‘select cocoa varieties for distribution, focusing only on high-yielding plants’. By 1947, 300 hectares were requisitioned for the station, but construction efforts stalled due to labor and material shortages, compounded by the ‘absence of an overall plan’. Despite these obstacles, the colonial administration reaffirmed the station’s mandate in 1948, officially formalizing it in 1949. Construction then began, financed by the cocoa fund.
The paradox of forced labor
The establishment of the Nkoemvone station faced significant practical challenges. In his 1949 annual report, station director Jean Braudeau noted a lack of personnel to construct roads, establish a nursery, and plant 15 hectares of crops. He managed to recruit temporary workers from a nearby village, often paid per task. The voluntary or forced nature of this labor remains ambiguous: while High Commissioner Renée Hoffherr began prohibiting forced recruitment upon his arrival in 1947, historian Léon Kaptué points out that forced labor continued until 1949.
To attract workers from beyond the region, the colonial administration built housing within the station—a common practice among colonial administrations, as historian Gwendolyn Wright notes. These workers were expected not only to contribute to construction but also to participate in agronomic research activities.
Agronomist Achille Pacilly, who succeeded Jean Braudeau in 1949, revealed that a labor camp was initially set up with 20 huts made of local materials. By 1956, 58 permanent huts were constructed, housing 130 to 140 families a few years later. The labor camp’s establishment effectively resolved the workforce issue.
In addition to worker housing, the station also included accommodations for managerial staff, research laboratories, potable water and electricity supply, a clinic, and extensive facilities such as nurseries and cocoa variety collection gardens. By 1959, on the eve of Cameroon’s independence, the station’s development was complete—though its challenges were far from over.
A propaganda tool for colonial rule
Beyond its scientific function, the Nkoemvone station served as a propaganda tool for the French administration. This role became particularly prominent in the 1950s, a period marked by violent repression by the French military against Cameroonian nationalists. In southern Cameroon, a cocoa-producing region, the station was repurposed as a means to regain public trust.
In 1958, journalist and French propaganda chief in Cameroon, André Boyer, produced a film titled ‘The Nkoemvone Cocoa Center’, part of a broader campaign aimed at ‘bringing wayward individuals back to normal life and convincing the masses of the sincerity of the government’s nationalist actions’.
The station also served as a showcase for the French administration’s purported benefits in Cameroon. The United Nations Visiting Mission Report on French-administered Cameroon, published in 1958, noted after inspecting the station on November 19, 1958: ‘The station’s activities focus on selecting high-yield cocoa varieties and producing cuttings for distribution to planters. The goal is to replace low-yield trees in plantations with elite saplings, and the station has already achieved promising results.’
After independence, the station’s propaganda role was repurposed by Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, to enhance the country’s international prestige. The station’s 1961-1962 report reveals visits from ambassadors of the United States, Germany, and 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 National School of Administration in Paris and the World Bank’s Africa director. However, this international recognition also marked the beginning of the station’s gradual decline.
Post-independence continuity and decline
Following the 1960 independence, new African states, including Cameroon, signed agreements with France that included provisions for joint research programs, mixed funding for operations, and French quasi-commitments to finance investments. These agreements allowed France to continue administering the station, even appointing former colonial agronomists such as Jacques Liabeuf as station director. As noted by researchers Jean Gaillard, Hocine Khelfaoui, and Jean Nya Ngatchou, this arrangement benefited the Cameroon government, enabling it to focus on higher education while leaving scientific research to France. French oversight only ended in 1975.
In the following decades, the station entered a period of decline, exacerbated by the economic and social crisis of the 1980s, which severely impacted Cameroon’s agronomic research. According to the cited authors, the sector faced ‘a severe financial crisis and a restructuring of its budget’, leading to stagnation in research activities.
The crisis extended to the broader scientific research landscape in Cameroon. During its peak between 1990 and 1996, ‘national research programs were halted; only those funded externally continued, albeit irregularly, due to delays in salary payments’. This situation led to funding shortages, researcher demoralization from salary devaluations, and the abandonment of numerous programs, including cocoa research at the Nkoemvone station, where scientific activity nearly came to a standstill.
In the early 1990s, the station was transformed into a multipurpose agronomic research station under the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (Irad), established by presidential decree in 1996 and reorganized in 2002. However, this restructuring did little to improve the institution’s fortunes, which continued to deteriorate. Natural causes compounded the damage caused by the economic crisis, accelerating the station’s decay. On March 17, 2006, an article titled ‘Will Nkoemvone Station Rise Again?’ in Cameroon Tribune reported that a violent storm had destroyed plant trial areas, damaged the administrative block, and ravaged numerous homes just days earlier. Since then, the situation has not improved.
Ironically, the station’s vast size, inherited from its colonial-era ambitions as a knowledge production and environmental transformation hub, now poses a significant obstacle to its restoration due to insufficient funds. This relative state of neglect is not solely the result of state disengagement, justified by successive crises and natural disasters. It also reveals the deeper contradictions of a colonial modernity project whose grandiose ambitions and extractivist visions clashed with the far more complex realities of the postcolonial era.
