by Ms. Madelaine Gimou and Mr. Dudley Achu Sama

In Cameroon, pesticides are basically used for agricultural needs, livestock and to a lesser extent, public health. Agriculture is carried on throughout the country and its contribution to the Gross National Product is of 28.5%.

After independence in 1960, the Government established a policy concerning pest control: the Government authorities organized the supply of inputs and agricultural equipment to farmers. These supplies, including pesticides, were imported according to the procedures of calling for international tenders. As a result, only pesticides approved by the international regulations in force could be imported. These pesticides were then redistributed free through the agricultural ministry services, development associations or development projects; all these bodies were eventually replaced by cooperatives.

At the end of the 1980s, because of the economic crisis, the Government authorities were obliged to commit themselves to a structural adjustment programme and a free market economy. This crisis affected pest control systems and from then on Government policy showed the following trends:

Pesticides and pest control services, therefore, became subject to registration and dealers in them to a licensing regime. A new law was promulgated dealing with pest control: Law No. 90/013 of 10 August 1990, with its implementation decree No. 92/223 of 25 May 1992. This law abrogated previous laws and set the regulating framework for pest control activities.

However, these laws did not really enter into force until 1996 when the technical ministries finally settled the practical modalities.

Already, a list of registered products and their respective uses is available and a national commission meets regularly to update it.

This is in conformity with article 6 of the International Code of Conduct for the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (FAO, 1996).

Of the current list of pesticides registered for agricultural use and provisionally authorized for sale in Cameroon (January and March 1997), it appears that:

DDT was also imported regularly with other organohalogenes; the amount imported increased from 538 tonnes in 1980 to 719 tonnes in 1994, of which 22 tons were DDT in 1984.

It should be noted that, prior to 1990, stocks of outdated pesticides were held all over the country, that is, in administrative structures (pest control centres), and in rural development associations. Among these products are dieldrin, aldrin, DDT and hexochorobenzene.

Although the Government objective is to destroy these products, there is no inventory, as far as is known, which would give a classification of these stocks and the place where they are located. Nevertheless, impact studies started since show activities carried out in respect of pesticides classified as persistent organic pollutants.

DDT was used in 1960 for household uses in public health. No build up of resistance to it has been noted in the southern area of Cameroon.

Massive doses of DDT were used in anti-vector control in the Sanaga basin. This has resulted in insects acquiring resistance to it (Publication, 1985). At the present time only pyrethrum is used for larvae control.

In 1989, an anti-mosquito insecticide distributed in Cameroon was banned as it contained DDT.

Dieldrin has been used in agriculture for the cotton crop in the north of Cameroon up to 1978. This use has given rise to resistance on the part of the insects, in particular the anopheles mosquito. This is a difficult resistance to overcome since it gives the insect resistance to other pesticides such as pyrethroids. Effective pyrethroids are currently in use.

A more recent study (Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on the Cameroon Estuary Mangrove Ecosystem) carried out in the ecosystem of the estuary mangroves of Cameroon located in the middle of the Gulf of Guinea, shows a significant pollution by pesticides classified as persistent organic pollutants. This pollution is of municipal origin (towns that are heavily populated and industrialized), and from agriculture (mechanized agriculture) and petroleum refineries, and it affects marine products as shown in table 1 below.

Table 1:

ND: not detected

From: Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on the Cameroon Estuary Mangrove Ecosystem 1991, (MINEF 1991).

The total annual fish catch in the coastal area (Table 2) represents a total of 56,127 tons which are redistributed to the interior of the country.

Table 2: Annual Tonnage of Fish in the Coastal Area

By taking the national annual consumption per inhabitant of fish from marine fisheries (7.02 kg/per year per person), the daily consumption per inhabitant of pesticides contained in the fish in the Coastal area can be calculated (Table 3).

Table 3: Daily consumption per inhabitant of pesticides contained in fish from the coastal area.

Since these substances are banned they should not be present in living organisms. It is also noted that the concentration of PCB is the highest.

No study of this type has been undertaken for people because: