(Business in Cameroon) - Hévéa Cameroun (Hevecam), a subsidiary of the British rubber producer Corrie MacColl, is preparing to lay off some of its staff for economic reasons. The number of workers concerned has not been determined yet.

On June 26, the company's top management informed staff representatives of the criteria used to determine the order of redundancies: the impact of the reorganization, non-productive professional skills, seniority in the company, above 180 months of contributions to social security, aged 55 years old, family responsibilities, etc. 

Hevecam explains that redundancies for economic reasons call for companies’ internal restructuration, the suppression or conversion of some positions and departments as well as the acceleration of technological transformation in some departments.

To this end, the company plans to suppress some departments, including "Plantations/Land Management," "Internal Marketing," "Archives and Statistics," "Plantation/HVC1 immature," "Plantations/Outgrowers," "Tax, Legal & Compliance," "Human Resources," "Factory and Technical" and "Sustainability."

Hevecam will thus dissolve the "Outgrower Program" launched a few years ago to stimulate sustainable employment and ensure food security for more than 10,000 families. The program was expected to produce up to 39,000 tons of traceable and sustainable rubber for smallholders each year.

Created in 1975 and privatized in December 1996, Hevecam is a limited company with a capital of CFAF15.7 billion. Headquartered on the Niété site, 40 km from Kribi, in the south of the country, its plantation covers an area of 42,000 ha. In 2018, its production was estimated at 17,000 dry tons of rubber.

Sylvain Andzongo