Transnational Corporations in the Banana Industry in Cameroon

Abstract

Prior to tho advent of colonialism, the banana industry in Cameroon was essentially a traditional cottage industry producing for domestic consumption. When the country become a German colony towards the end of the nineteenth century, tho industry "began to develop into what is today, an export oriented activity based on colonial plantations (Hondols und Plantagcn Kolonio), using capitalist means of production and with a capitalist export structure, The colonial pattern of production continued to predominate until the 1950s, whenthere was still a very small (4 per cent) input of traditional peasant agriculture.