DOI: 10.36344/ccijhss.2021.v07i06.001

Pages: 117-127

The agro-industrial sector in Cameroon remains an important part of the country’s life wire as it produces for both local consumption and export thereby bringing revenue to the country and contributing to the welfare of its citizens. While attention is often drawn to production, the role of labour and the subsequent exportation of raw materials, very little attention is accorded to the auxiliary activities of agro-industrial complexes such as the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) and the Societe Camerounaise de Palmeraies (SOCAPALM) towards the socio-economic advancement of the areas or neighbourhoods in which they carried out their operations. This paper accordingly, focuses on the contribution of two important agro-industries in Cameroon, the CDC and SOCAPALM, in the socio-economic welfare of the populations in the vicinities in which they operated. Using a historical method of analysis, it reveals that several persons or groups (non-labourers of the companies) benefitted, and in some instances, even more than the labourers, because of their proximity to the companies’ estates and installations.