GENERAL INTRODUCTION

  Background of the Study

Since world war two, the Economy of West Cameroon ( formerly British  Southern Cameroons) was based almost wholly on the production of a  handful of  commercial crops. Banana for a time was the most import crops, but a fall in prices, shift competition, resulting to a loss of its major market and several calamities storms it and finally heavily diseases damage it[1]. All these were responsible for its demise. Coffee, Cocoa and oil palm, now comprises the major crops both in average and production. Within recent years, however, there has been renewed interest in the Tea Culture by agricultural authorities, private and government, so that it could be considered not only as an important money earner, but also perspective major cash crop. Because of this, new plantings contemplated

In several sections of West Cameroon, and the Tole Tea Estates on mount Cameroun in Victoria Division became the major Tea producer in West Africa.

Tea growing on Mount Cameroon (13,352 feet elevation) physically dominates Victoria Division which was the southern and coastal administrative unit in west Cameroon. Majority of the population were subsistence farmers while a large segment perform government jobs.

Coming back to the history of the Tole Tea Estate, it is very important to note that it was in the Victoria (Now Limbe) Botanical Gardens in 1914 that the Germans planted a small experimental bed of Tea seed. Their efforts were, however curtailed in 1916 by their final defeat in Cameroon by the British and  French forces, following which their properties were confiscated and handed over to the administration of the custodian  of enemy property.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, all German property was again placed under the control of the custodian of enemy property. In 1942, permission was given to reactivate the Tole Tea plot to provide Tea for local consumption with surpluses exported to Nigeria[2].

In 1954, the decision was taken to develop Tole is a commercial Estate. This commenced the same year with the planting of 11 hectare “using Tole seed. Thank to this initiative, Tole emerged as a Tea Estate in the true sense, and the modern era of Tea in Cameroon. By 1956, the planting at Tole had increase to 55 hectares and the corporation annual report for that year report for that year reported the Tea as being in a fine state of growth and up keep. In 1958, a small factory was commissioned and 11.640 kgs of black Tea was again produced at Tole that same year.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Tea production and marketing as once one of the most profitable export crops in Cameroon. The rising demand for high quality Tea on both the domestic

and export market made the Cameroon Tea estate to re-think on the strategies needed to meet up market quality demands. Several attempts were made  by the Tole  Tea  Estate to export Tea to the European union market but were rejected because of low quality. However, the causes of low quality Tea were unknown. The Tole Tea Estate was one of the Estate own by the CDC until it was privatized in the year 2002, and rename Cameroon Tea Estate^.4

        The central theme of this research is the evolution of the Tole Tea Estate in the South West Region of Cameroon. The main problem this study seeks to fine out is: How has the Tole Tea Estate evolved over the years in the South West Region of Cameroon? It also look at the procedure involved in Tea processing, and the difficulties encountered by the Estate over the years and its propose solutions.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

         The specific objective is to study the various changes that has taken place in the Estate and it ramification.

     The main objective is to investigate how the Tole Estate has evolved over the years, in terms of management, structure, production marketing.

[1]Benedict Bate   Tiku, ‘’Socio-Economic Evolution of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC)

²V.J :Ngoh, History of Cameroon Since 1800, Limbe, Press book, 1996.