Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

304 Rattan exploitation in the Yaoundé Region of Cameroon

Photo 2. Harvester transporting rattan cane (Photo by L. Defo)

from 40-odd villages of the countryside of Yaoundé. Commercialisation on

this sales point is done freely (it suffices to pay the storage fee to the proprietor

of the land) and it is carried out by the cutters themselves (hence the name of

cutters-sellers) directly to the craftsmen, without any intermediary. They

negotiate individually with the craftsmen, without any real agreement among

cutters-sellers on prices, which contributes enormously to weaken their position

in the face of buyers.

Provision of fresh supplies of cane to the sales point is undertaken

spontaneously, in a disorganised manner. The demand for rattan varies

according to the agricultural calendar, to seasons, to the school calendar, to

that of great feasts and some circumstantial events. Thus for example, between

5 August and 8 September 1996, a time of school holidays in the dry season

with low activity on the agricultural calendar, 4,225 parcels and bundles of

rattan were received at this sales point as compared with only 1,764 parcels

in the busy period from 30 September to 27 October 1996 (the rainy season,

school period, periods of dense and restricting agricultural activities) (Defo

1997). Consequently the market witnesses considerable periods of oversupply,

but also of periods of shortage during the year.

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