**2. Methods**

#### **2.1 Research sites**

Within the oil palm production basins of Cameroon, three main sites were chosen to drive this study namely Sanaga Maritime Division in 2013–2014, Ngwéi (2016–2018) and Ekondo-Titi (2016) Subdivisions (**Figure 1**). The diversity of the biophysical environment favours the cultivation of a wide variety of food (cassava, maize, millet, macabo, rice, etc.), and cash (sugar cane, cotton, palm oil, rubber,

## *Environmental Impacts of the Oil Palm Cultivation in Cameroon DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97862*

cocoa, etc.) crops (Tchindjang et al. 2015–2016). Regarding oil palm, it develops preferentially in the coastal area qualified as the "elaeisfarming" belt of Cameroon (**Figure 1**). Administratively, oil palm plantations and concessions are set up in the maritime facades of the southern, coastal and southwestern regions [10, 15, 16].

As shown by Tchindjang et al. [17] and Ndjogui [18], oil palm belt offers suitable conditions for the development of oil palm: low altitude (less than 500 m); sufficient rainfall (more than 1800 mm/year); favorable temperature between 22 and 30°C; low thermal amplitude; rich and deep soils; etc. Agro-industries are also common in this area and constitute the major producers of palm oil (**Table 1**). At the edge of this "elaeisfarming" belt, there are a few small marginal farms both on the vast southern Cameroonian plateau and in the Western Highlands where oil palm could be grown with limited success.

#### **Figure 1.**

*"Elaeiscultivation" areas, oil pam farms and industries of Cameroon.*


**Table 1.**

*Summary of the research sites.*
