Cameroon is blessed with a vast amount of natural
resources from petroleum and natural gas to various minerals such as kyanite,
an aluminum silicate and bauxite which are found on the Adamawa Plateau in the
northern-central Cameroon1. Unfortunately, the country’s weak infrastructure was not been
able to extract these resources efficiently enough.
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| Adamawa Plateau, Cameroon. |
Resources used for agriculture purposes as well as
for export account for a third of its total exports2. These exports
include sawn wood, cocoa, cotton and coffee. Cameroon is one of the world’s
largest producers of cocoa beans which according to Statista.com the country
was on pace to produce some 230 thousand tons in the years of 2015-2016.Other
highly valued crops include cotton and bananas. For the subsistence farmers
their crops include plantains, beans, yams, maize and oil palm in the south and
groundnuts (peanuts), millet, and cassava in the north.
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| Abundant Plantains |
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| Maize Farmer |
Cameroon with its dense forests produces timber for
exportation and is one of the world leaders along with Brazil and Indonesia 4.
Approximately 60% of its raw timbers get shipped to China and 80% of the processed
wood goes to Europe 5 . Livestock and its byproducts are exported to
neighboring countries such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and The Republic of
Congo.
Another commodity that we in modern times especially
in the west take for granted is salt. Sometime between the 2nd and 5th century
A.D. camels were introduced to North Africa which allowed the transportation of
Saharan salt which by the 19th century the Bilma region alone exported 6000
tons of salt. Trade routes developed into the Sahelian regions of Niger, Chad
and northern Nigeria which from that point would travel into Cameroon and
south-eastern Nigeria where pure salt was scarce and on return for gold and
other goods6.
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Cameroon’s wealth in resources has not had an equal
effect on the country. According to the World Bank poverty between 2001 and
2014 has seen a clear regional disparity with the north Cameroon becoming
poorer and the southern Cameroon becoming wealthier7. While Cameroon
is one of the most stable countries from Sub Saharan Africa it is far from
being complete. As with any underdeveloped country stagnant GDP per capita,
corruption and institutions that are not favorable to growth, add to that the presence
of Boko Haram in the North and the situation looks to become very grim in northern
Cameroon.
References:
(6)
Reader,
John. 1998. ABiography of the Continent
Africa. New York: Vintage Books.
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