A training on Oil Palm Cultivation is ongoing in the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC). The aim is to increase profits in the CDC. The first phase of the training programme started September 1, 2015 at the Moliwe Training Center with Dr Claude Bakoume, Principal Scientist and Head of Molecular Biology at Sime Darby, the biggest Oil Palm plantation and largest Palm Oil producer in the world.
The training focused on better yields in the Oil Palm sector. In this light, issues examined included What Type of Fertilizer for what Purpose, Soil and Water Management, Harvesting of Oil Palm, Allocation/supervision and Pay as well as Record Keeping. Dr Bakoume explained that “the general objective of an oil palm plantation is to harvest all available branches at optimum ripeness standard within reasonable intervals to optimise oil recovery and minimise collection cost”. He went further to reveal that “short harvesting intervals lead to low Oil Extraction Rate while long intervals result in losses and rottening of fruits and drop in oil quality”. After making his recommendations on these issues, he challenged “workers of the CDC Palm Group to increase production from the current 7 tonnes/ha to at least 15 tonnes/ha. This can be possible if you reorganise your style of work”, he said. On her part, Dr Mungu Kate lectured on the causes and management of oil palm diseases like Fusarium and Ganoderma.
The training involves the General Manager of the CDC, the Director of Human Resources, the Financial Director, the Group Oil Palms Manager, the Group Banana Manager, the Communications and Public Relations Manager, Estate Managers, Senior Field Assistants, Field Assistants and Junior Field Assistants of the Oil Palm Group. The first phase of the training ended on Thursday September 3, 2015 with the award of certificates to participants.