Trade
Economy & Finance
The Palm Oil Paradox: How Cameroon Lost the Crop It Invented
Cameroon once led the world in oil palm cultivation, with advanced hybrid varieties and the pollinator weevil that Southeast Asia would later adopt. Six decades later, Indonesia and Malaysia command 85 percent of global production while Cameroon produces barely half a million tons—a reversal driven not by agricultural limits but by institutional neglect and missed industrialization.
The Tragedy of Côte d'Ivoire's Cashews: Production Without Prosperity
Côte d'Ivoire produces nearly twice as many cashews as Vietnam but captures a fraction of the export value, because Vietnam dominates processing and meets the food safety standards demanded by wealthy markets. The nuts travel 10,500 nautical miles to Vietnam for processing, then another 17,000 to consumers in the US and EU—a supply chain optimized for price, not equity.