Palm Oil flows in journalists veins

With enthusiasm, 18 journalists drawn from national and international media houses in Cameroon played the role of actors in the palm oil sector in a companion modelling game session organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The journalists described the two-day game sessions as inspiring and enriching.

WWF in collaboration with Cameroon Agriculture Ministry is seeking ways to ensure sustainable palm oil development in the country.  One of the approaches used is the palm oil companion modelling game. The game draws from the setting of the palm oil value chain in Cameroon showing the interactions, dynamics and trade-offs amongst stakeholders.

The media as non-traditional actors in the sector played the game recently in the city of Douala, Cameroon. Assuming the role of palm oil smallholders, agro-industries, artisanal mills, bankers, truck rental services, the journalists for two days, came to understand why and how actors in this sector behave and the challenges they face.

 Randy Joe Sa’ah, BBC correspondent based in Yaounde, describes the game as a very innovative way of imparting knowledge of the palm oil sector to journalists. “I played the role of a palm oil smallholder, which enabled me to understand the difficulties and frustrations farmers face. If I were to do any reporting on palm oil henceforth, I will ask the right questions to the right people,” Randy says.

On his part, Ntumngwe Elias Ngalame, a freelance journalist and stringer for Thompson Reuters Foundation now knows which stakeholders to meet when doing any investigative reporting on palm oil issues. “This training has helped me to know the different stakeholders in the chain and the specific problems they face. From playing the game I came to understand smallholders are more vulnerable and need much protection,” says Ngalame.
“These challenges inform me on how to tailor my reports and content of my TV Program,” says Regina Leke, presenter of an environmental program, Planet Rise, on Canal 2 International TV.

For Doumbe Oumar, who manages a local radio station in the town of Kribi, south of Cameroon, the game enabled him see the difficulties smallholders face in extending their plantation, selling their fresh fruit bunches, and obtaining credit. “I will sensitize smallholders in this area on how to boost production, through the use of fertilizer and high yielding seedlings,” says Doumbe.

“Initially I thought palm oil production concerned only agro-industrial producers and second level transformers. Now I understand there are other very important actors including smallholders and bankers in the sector. I now know the banks are very important in terms of provision of loans to smallholders,” says Omer Mbady, journalist of Jeune Afrique, a pan African magazine. “These are actors in the sector I must henceforth take into account when treating information on the palm oil sector,” he says.

 The game is a participatory modelling approach within the context of the implementation of the Oil Palm Adaptive Landscape (OPAL) project in Cameroon financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). “It enables local stakeholders to navigate and explore possible alternatives and make informed decisions on palm oil production,” explains Durrel Halleson, Business and Industries Policy Coordinator for WWF Cameroon. “WWF uses outcomes of the game to provide decision support for the development of Cameroon’s National Sustainable Palm Oil Strategy,” he adds.