SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The study examines the evolution since the 1950s of the banana trades from the former British and former French Cameroons into the 1982 banana business of the United Republic of Cameroon. As a case study in agricultural development, special attention is given to the changing viability of smallholders and to the role of the United Brands Company in the development of the trade. In studying the causes of changes in the business since the Second World War, the thesis examines the interaction of markets, technologies, managerial structures and the politics of independence in the two Cameroons. In that examination, some of the conflicts between the commercial requirements of an international trade operating to international standards, and the local needs of Cameroon's governments, society and environment are explored. The findings of the study are based principally on unpublished sources. Interviews with all the leaders of the 1982 Cameroon trade were complemented by interviews with company people, former participants in the trade, and residents of Cameroon who could recall the post-war period. Important material has also come from privately- held files of those people involved in the banana business. These files were of meeting minutes, correspondence and contracts from the 1950s to the early 1970s and helped to detail the general information provided in the interviews.