Trees, agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon

This article was downloaded by: [Washington State University Libraries ]On: 07 December 2014, At: 12:01Publisher: Taylor & FrancisInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office:Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

International Journal of AgriculturalSustainabilityPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscriptioninformation:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tags20

Trees, agroforestry and multifunctionalagriculture in CameroonEbenezar K. Asaah a , Zacharie Tchoundjeu a , Roger R. B. Leakey b c , BertinTakousting a , James Njong a & Innocent Edang aa World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), West and Central Africa RegionalProgramme , Yaoundé, Cameroonb Agroforestry and Novel Crops Unit , James Cook University , Cairns,Australiac White Lodge , Jerusalem, Pencaitland, East Lothian, EH34 5BQ, Scotland,UKPublished online: 08 Jun 2011.

To cite this article: Ebenezar K. Asaah , Zacharie Tchoundjeu , Roger R. B. Leakey , Bertin Takousting , JamesNjong & Innocent Edang (2011) Trees, agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon, InternationalJournal of Agricultural Sustainability, 9:1, 110-119

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3763/ijas.2010.0553

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and ourlicensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, orsuitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publicationare the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor &Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independentlyverified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilitieswhatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantialor systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and usecan be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tags20

http://dx.doi.org/10.3763/ijas.2010.0553

http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Trees, agroforestry and multifunctionalagriculture in CameroonEbenezar K. Asaah1*, Zacharie Tchoundjeu1, Roger R. B. Leakey2,3, Bertin Takousting1, James Njong1

and Innocent Edang

1 World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), West and Central Africa Regional Programme, Yaounde, Cameroon2 Agroforestry and Novel Crops Unit, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia3 White Lodge, Jerusalem, Pencaitland, East Lothian EH34 5BQ, Scotland, UK

Modern agriculture has deprived local communities in the tropics of their natural life-support system – the forest

resource and the traditional knowledge about indigenous species – and this has not been replaced by employment

opportunities or social services. This project in the west and northwest regions of Cameroon takes an innovative

three-step approach to improving the lives of local people by establishing rural resource centres (RRCs) to: (i)

Rehabilitate degraded land and promote food security through the use of nitrogen-fixing trees to restore crop yields

and then the diversification of the farming system with new crops; (ii) Create income generation opportunities from

village tree nurseries and the domestication of indigenous fruits and nuts for local and regional trade. Income is

rising annually and currently averages $150, $16,000 and $21,000 per RRC after 2, 5 and 10 years, respectively; (iii)

Encourage the processing and marketing of food crops and tree products in order to create employment and

entrepreneurial opportunities for community members. Income is currently $2400 per enterprise. The project’s

philosophy is one of helping smallholder farming communities to help themselves: first to become self-sufficient and

economically independent, and then to be a hub for the dissemination of knowledge and skills to neighbouring

communities.

Keywords: agroforestry; agroforestry tree products; impact; livelihoods; multifunctional agriculture; participatory

domestication; rural resource centres

Introduction

Cameroon is Africa in miniature. It is a country with avery diverse set of environments from wet tropicallowland rainforest in the south and east to semi-aridsavannah in the north that is verging on desert. Inbetween there are upland areas with montane forestsand grasslands. As in most tropical countries, peopleused to depend on the forest for the wide range of pro-ducts they used to meet their everyday needs; theywere hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers. Inthe past, farmers practised shifting agriculture onsmall plots of cleared forest, which were abandonedafter 2–3 years and then allowed to revert to forest/shrub fallows that replenished soil fertility. With theadvent of colonialism and then globalization, theforest was cleared for what was considered to be pro-gress in many different guises, but especially for

agriculture and for crops destined for export to indus-trialized countries. As populations grew and agricul-ture expanded, the deforestation spread and togetherwith the disappearance of the trees there was theloss of an important resource of traditionally impor-tant nutritious foods, medicines and other useful pro-ducts, including the loss of wild animals eaten as‘bush meat’.

Modern agriculture ignored these local species, andinstead promoted cash crops from other parts of theworld and intensively farmed staple food crops likemaize, cassava and yams, and in some areas domesti-cated livestock. In addition to improved crop seeds,the Green Revolution package promoted artificial fer-tilizers and a range of pesticides. Typically, however,the farm size in Africa is less than 5ha, often less than2ha; hence farming was focused on providing for theneeds of the household and seldom on providing food

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY 9(1) 2011

PAGES 110–119, doi:10.3763/ijas.2010.0553 # 2011 Earthscan. ISSN: 1473-5903 (print), 1747-762X (online). www.earthscan.co.uk/journals/ijas

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

for sale. Consequently, farmers were not generatingincome and remained very poor. They were thusunable to purchase fertilizers and the other inputsthat would maintain good crop yields. Furthermore,as the forest receded, the land became more degradedwith increasing loss of soil fertility. In parallel withthis degradation, there was a decline in the range ofliving organisms that are essential for the maintenanceof life processes, such as nutrient and carbon cycling,food chains and life cycles important for pest anddisease control, pollination and so on. Furthermore,access to potable water declined due to erosion, silta-tion and pollution. Against this background, modernagriculture has dramatically increased the yield poten-tial of many staple food crops. However, for farmersin the highlands of Cameroon, just like those inmany other developing countries, the consumptionof a diet increasingly based on starch-based foodslike cassava, cocoyams, maize and the reduced con-sumption of traditional foods led to unbalanceddiets, malnutrition and a greater susceptibility todisease.

Improved fallows using leguminous tree and shrubspecies are a well-known, widely tested and increas-ingly adopted agroforestry technology for soil fertilityimprovement (Cooper et al., 1996; Buresh andCooper, 1999; Kanmegne et al., 2003; Degrandeet al., 2007). Results from a wide range of sites inCameroon have shown that consequently maizeyields are increased, on average, by about 70 per cent(Degrande et al., 2007), but in some areas three- orfour-fold gains are possible. However, recognizingthe traditional importance of indigenous tree productsfor food and nutritional security (Leakey, 1999),and the declining resource of these species, theWorld Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), in 1995,initiated a programme to domesticate the species pro-ducing indigenous fruits and nuts. Work to domesti-cate these species started in Cameroon in 1997 toimprove the yield and quality of their products, witha focus on the species identified as the farmers’ priori-ties (Irvingia gabonensis, Dacryodes edulis, Ricino-dendron heudelotii, Garcinia kola, Cola spp.,Pausinystalia johimbe and Prunus africana).

The techniques and strategies of vegetative propa-gation, characterization of genetic variation, treeselection and cultivar development have been exten-sively reported elsewhere (see the reviews byLeakey et al., 2005, 2007). Uniquely, the approachdeveloped in Cameroon was to work directly withlocal communities and to promote the use of localknowledge (Leakey et al., 2003; Tchoundjeu et al.,

2006, 2010). Through this research, techniques andstrategies for participatory tree domestication weredeveloped with the aim of empowering local commu-nities, promoting food self-sufficiency, generatingincome and employment, and enhancing nutritionalbenefits. This participatory approach brings togetheragricultural science and community empowerment.There is now growing evidence that in this way agro-forestry can help rural communities to be self-sufficient and to support their families on an area ofless than 5ha (Schreckenberg et al., 2006; Degrandeet al., 2006). As a result, the domestication of indigen-ous fruit and nut trees is now becoming recognized asan important component of agroforestry, which isstarting to have meaningful impacts in rural develop-ment with application in the alleviation of poverty,malnutrition and hunger.

Worldwide the incidence of poverty is still inexcess of three billion, with malnutrition around twobillion, while 38 per cent of cropland has beendegraded. As a consequence, local people withoutthe life-support system of the forest struggle to be self-sufficient and youths go to the towns in search ofemployment. Early in 2008, the International Assess-ment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Tech-nology for Development (IAASTD) indicated that inorder to address this complex set of interactingenvironmental, social and economic problems, agri-culture needs to address poverty, malnutrition,hunger and environmental degradation in an inte-grated way rather than focusing solely on improvedfood production. IAASTD therefore promoted multi-functional agriculture to resolve social, economic andenvironmental sustainability, and find a new approachto meeting the needs of the smallholder farmer (McIn-tyre et al., 2008). In recent years, this philosophy hasbeen implemented in Cameroon by the World Agro-forestry Centre through its Agroforestry Tree Domes-tication projects funded by the International Fund forAgricultural Development (IFAD), the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture (USDA) and the Govern-ment of the Republic of Cameroon. The aim ofthese projects has been to empower smallholderfarmers to help themselves climb out of poverty, mal-nutrition and hunger, while at the same time creatingmore environmentally sustainable farming systems.The current USDA project integrates agriculture,agroforestry, the marketing of agricultural and treeproducts, microfinance and small post-harvestmachinery through a self-help package for poor small-holder farmers based on capacity building, communi-cation and community development.

Trees, agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon 111

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

Through this integrated approach to rural develop-ment it has become clear that agroforestry can be thedelivery mechanism for multifunctional agriculture(Leakey, 2010). The process involves three steps(Figure 1).

The first step involves the restoration of soil fertilityusing nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs in improvedfallows to rehabilitate degraded land and so toimprove food security from staple food crops.

The second step involves tree domestication, whichdevelops new tree crops to replace the lost resource offorest species that are important in the lives of localpeople. In this way it also enriches and diversifiesthe farmland, making it more productive and enhan-cing the ecological functions of the agroecosystem.It also improves the quality and marketability of thetree products.

The third step is to promote entrepreneurism anddevelop value-adding and processing technologiesfor the new tree crop products. This is aimed at

increasing the availability of the products throughoutthe year, expanding trade and creating off-farmemployment opportunities: outputs that shouldempower the community and create a pathway outof poverty.

Project strategy to promotingmultifunctional agriculture

The underlying research developed propagationmethods based on very low-tech appropriate technol-ogy that did not require running water or electricity,and so was suitable for use in remote rural commu-nities. It also developed simple techniques for thecharacterization of tree-to-tree variation. However,the critical strategic development was the decisionto implement participatory tree domestication ratherthan the conventional research station approach.Linked to this was the decision to set up pilot projects

Figure 1 | Flow diagram of agroforestry as a delivery mechanism for multifunctional agriculture

E. K. Asaah et al.112


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

in key communities and to then create rural resourcecentres (RRCs) to implement the communitycapacity-building activities, with support from relayorganizations (non-governmental organizations[NGOs]), while ICRAF researchers just played acoordinating and mentoring role.

The project’s philosophy was to provide knowl-edge, but no money. Farmers were taught simple,low-tech methods for the rooting of stem cuttings,marcotting and grafting. This did not involve thefarmers in buying equipment. As the scale increased,researchers trained NGO trainers, who then dissemi-nated knowledge to the communities. Extension tonew villages was often by farmer-to-farmer exchangevisits. The successful adoption of research outputs canbe attributed to the relevance of the research tofarmers’ needs and interests and the fact that the pro-gramme builds on traditional knowledge, localculture, local species and local markets and over-comes the key constraints of degraded soil fertility,poverty, malnutrition and unemployment.

The World Agroforestry Centre’s tree domesti-cation programme in the highlands of Cameroon iscurrently funded by the USDA under the ‘Food ForProgress Act’ of 1985, but was initiated in 1999with funds from IFAD. Currently the programme isworking with more than 200 farmer groups or associ-ations under the day-to-day supervision of 17 relayorganizations in the western highlands of Cameroon.These relay organizations are local NGOs, community-based organizations (CBOs) or some well-establishedfarmer groups whose capacities have beenreinforced to reskill and support farmers in waysthat open up new opportunities for employment, com-merce and rural development. Thus, these relayorganizations are training and mentoring organiz-ations working to improve the livelihoods of partici-pating communities, with a central focus on treesthat have been traditionally important for food andnutritional security. Based on the research mentionedabove, the World Agroforestry Centre developedtraining packages for the relay organizations toprovide training and technical backstopping on plantpropagation to farmer groups. Using these packagesand the accumulated knowledge of World Agrofores-try Centre staff, the participatory tree domesticationinitiative started with two pilot villages in 1999, andsince then it has rapidly grown as interested commu-nities have joined. To encourage this early up-scaling,the IFAD-funded project upgraded the first five pilotvillages to RRCs to particularly improve the horticul-tural and plant nursery skills of the associated

communities. As the RRCs grew, it became necessaryto develop satellite nurseries in the more distant vil-lages. Today, this network involving over 200 com-munities is based on seven RRCs (being expandedto 10) and 150 satellite nurseries servicing morethan 10,000 farmers in the north and northwestregions of Cameroon (Figure 2).

The relay organizations that manage and facilitatethese RRCs serve as diffusion hubs for new technol-ogies, skills and knowledge, in association withnational and international research institutes. Tofulfil this role effectively, the RRCs have their owntree nurseries to provide training for a diverse set ofspecies based on appropriate horticultural technol-ogies, agroforestry and soil fertility improvementusing ‘fertilizer’ trees, as well as the improvementof well-adapted varieties of maize, potatoes, plantainand cassava. As was planned from the outset, thelong-term sustainability of these RRCs is beingachieved by becoming financially independent asboth viable commercial nurseries and organizationstrengthening enterprises.

Under the IFAD project (1999–2006), villagerscame to the RRCs for formal training and workexperience in tree domestication, agroforestry andnursery management. In addition, they were specifi-cally taught horticultural skills, such as the identifi-cation of elite trees with superior characteristics, andtechniques of vegetative propagation (marcotting,grafting or the rooting of cuttings) appropriate forsexually mature trees. With these skills, the villagerscan then develop their own selected cultivars produ-cing a wide range of high-quality, marketable tree pro-ducts with the capacity to flower and fruit withoutgoing through an unproductive juvenile period, andthat are also ‘true-to-type’ – that is, genetic copiesof the original mother tree.

Through their tree nursery activities, the RRCsproduce nitrogen-fixing ‘fertilizer tree’ seedlings aswell as create selected cultivars of indigenous fruitand nut trees that can be sold to neighbouring commu-nities to generate funds to support and expand the facili-ties. With the growth of the project, the RRCs helpedvillagers to develop their own community nurseries.

Equipped with these new skills, farmers are soon ina position to plant, further multiply or sell plants fromtheir own nurseries. As this process has progressed,these satellite nurseries have also started to becomeindependent and financially viable. Usually farmershave opted to split their plants between (i) sale toother RRC members and outsiders, (ii) further multi-plication to build up numbers for the future and (iii)



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

cultivation to start to produce their own fruits and nutsfor home consumption and sale.

USDA funding started in 2007, and by mid-2009community empowerment and capacity building wascentred on seven RRCs in the west and northwestregions of Cameroon, with 150 satellite tree nurseries(Table 1). Today, the agroforestry network involvesover 10,000 farmers from more than 200 communities,supervised by 15 relay organizations (NGOs or CBOs)just for agroforestry. The number of farmers who havereceived training has varied from one RRC to the next,for example, MIFACIG Resource Centre (MIFACIG)has provided agroforestry training to over 2,500farmers in 35 satellite nurseries since 2005. Acrossall RRCs, the average number of farmers trained persatellite nursery is about 16 farmers.

The role of the RRCs has been expanded to includetraining in a wider variety of skills, from the use ofmicrofinance, decision making by community

committees, through to business management andmarketing. In addition, the project is actively support-ing community development and the value-adding ofagricultural produce and agroforestry tree products. In2009, two relay organizations started to supervise fourwomen’s groups processing products.

Training community in community organizationand management is being done in partnership withCentre d’Accompagnement de Nouvelles Alternativesde Developpement Local (CANADEL) to developlocal infrastructure (roads, water supplies, storagefacilities for crops, etc.). The communities areexpected to finance 15 per cent (5 per cent costand 10 per cent in kind) of project costs from theirown resources. The processing, value-adding and mar-keting of agricultural/agroforestry produce isimplemented in partnership with WINROCK Inter-national through training local engineers in the devel-opment of small tools and equipment for

Figure 2 | West and northwest regions of Cameroon showing location of RRCs and satellite nurseries



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

community-level use. This creates off-farm employ-ment, which is spawning local entrepreneurs who aresetting up businesses in the community. The final com-ponent of the project is the provision of small short-term loans to villagers, mostly to women, for the pur-chase of agricultural inputs (seed, fertilizers, casuallabour, etc.) through a local microfinance provider,First Investment for Financial Assistance (FIFFA).

As described below in more detail, when integratedwith agroforestry, tree domestication and tree nur-series, the overall package is improving rural liveli-hoods by empowering participating communities toengage in a self-help approach to income generation,better diets, better health, greater access to educationand increased self-sufficiency and food security.

General outcomes and successesfrom multifunctional agriculture

Soil fertility restorationAll the RRCs have promo2ted ‘fertilizer trees’, suchas Calliandra calothyrsus, Acacia angustissima,

Sesbania sesban, Tephrosia vogelli and Cajanuscajan, to fix atmospheric nitrogen and restore soil fer-tility. In 2008, the seven RRCs produced over 52,500fertilizer trees. In 2007–2008 at Riba AgroforestryResource Centre (RIBA), the number of farmersplanting fertilizer trees rose from 208 to 360. Theseimproved fallows have become a well-accepted tech-nology in most of the communities engaged in thisproject, and farmers are reporting that their cropyields have doubled or tripled. This is a significantincrease in the productivity of staple food crops andimproves food security. Potentially, this increasedyield will allow farmers to plant a smaller area offood crops and so increase the space for other typesof crops, to meet their other needs. Leguminoustrees and shrubs are also popular with bees; hencemany communities have become bee-keepers, andin some communities everyone now has access tohoney. To illustrate the importance of these trees,the 7ha RIBA site was completely bare and degraded,and had been abandoned by farmers. Now, the soilshave been rehabilitated and the yields of wheat,maize, beans and potatoes doubled. In addition, the

Table 1 | Background information of the Rural Resource Centres for Farmer Training

Name of RR Centre Key Activities Brief Description of Centre

MIFACIG,Belo.Boyo DivisionNW Region

Tree domesticationBee farmingSeed multiplicationSoil fertility management.

10 years collaboration with ICRAF. It has welldeveloped training facilities for farmer training inparticipatory tree domestication. 35 satellitenurseries.

RARC,Kumbo,Bui DivisionNW Region

Tree domesticationSoil fertility management.Wheat productionIrish potato processingFood crop production

5 years collaboration with ICRAF. It a referencecentre for farmer training in integrated soil fertilitymanagement and seed multiplication. 14 satellitenurseries.

GICPROAGRO, Bayangam,Koung-Khi Division,West Region

Tree domesticationSoil fertility managementMarketing of agroforestry products

5 years collaboration with ICRAF. It is referencecentre for participatory tree domestication. 9satellite nurseries.

APADER,Bangangte,Nde DivisionWest Region

Tree domesticationSoil fertility managementMarketing of agroforestry products

5 years collaboration with ICRAF. It is a referencecentre for participatory tree domestication andintegrated soil fertility management. 22 satellitenurseries.

PROWISDEV,Batibo,Momo Division,NW Region

Tree domesticationMarketing of tree productsFood crop productionSeed multiplication

2 years collaboration with ICRAF. It is our referencecentre in tree domestication, seed multiplication andmarketing of agro forestry products. 12 satellitenurseries.

AJPCEDES,Foumban,Upper Noun Division,West Region

Tree domesticationSoil fertility improvementMarketing of tree productsFarmer training

1 year of collaboration with ICRAF. 8 satellitenurseries.



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

plot has a diverse range of tree species for other pur-poses. For example, in addition to providing fuel-wood, boundary trees act as windbreaks, a woodloton the hilltop provides fodder for livestock andforage for bees, and the fields also contain local indi-genous fruit and medicinal plants as well as someexotic fruits.

Production of superior varieties ofindigenous fruit treesThe western highlands of Cameroon have many indi-genous tree species with the potential to be domesti-cated and produce marketable food, fodder andnon-food products. While the project has formallyfocused on the original set of priority species, wenow find that once the farmers see and understandthe techniques of vegetative propagation, they start toapply them to a much wider range of species, includingsome exotic fruits such as cocoa, avocados, mangoesand apples. In 2008, the seven RRCs produced over122,500 plants of indigenous fruit and nut trees.

In addition to selling plants, community membersalso deploy their newly acquired nursery managementand tree propagation skills to improve their own farms.For example, between 2007 and 2008, the number oftrees planted by each household within the RIBAnetwork of farmers rose on average from 10 to 120.Similarly, within the MIFACIG network of farmers,the number of trees planted per household rose from10 to 200, and the number of groups mentored byMIFACIG increased from 18 in 2007 to 35 by theend of 2009. To enhance the sales and start to buildcommunity ownership of the cultivars, they will begiven names that identify the farmer and the nursery.In addition, with the recent formation of the AfricanOrganization of Intellectual Property, variety trialswill be established at the RRCs to ensure that the com-munities gather the data needed to register their bestcultivars for Plant Breeders Rights.

One entrepreneur who has had a long associationwith the project has been identifying trees whichfruit out-of-season and has been propagating theseby marcotting. He is selling his selected marcotts atabout US$10, and on rare occasions when he targetsrich people visiting the market he has got US$30 fora single plant of a selected cultivar. For this price heoffers a service contract to plant the tree for thecustomer.

Income generation from tree nurseriesOne of the very encouraging outcomes of tree nurserydevelopments has been their income-generating

capacity through the sales of superior varieties of indi-genous fruit trees. Typically, the first priority is toproduce trees for domestic use (typically about 200trees per farm) and so it takes about three yearsbefore an income stream starts, but then subsequentlythere is rapid growth. The volume and value of thesesales has been steadily climbing year by year, but thenumber of trees sold varies between the differentRRCs and nurseries (Table 2). At the 10-year-oldMIFACIG, plant sales from the RRC were valued atUS$21,000 in 2009, while plant sales from its 35 sat-ellite nurseries averaged about 35 per cent of thatvalue – that is, US$7350. In comparison, the plant-derived income from the five-year-old nursery ofResource Centre (GIC PROAGRO) was aroundUS$1750 in 2007 from fertilizer trees, but in 2008they shifted to fruit trees and the income in 2009was about US$40,000. Already cultivars derivedfrom superior trees are the largest source of incomein the satellite nurseries of GIC PROAGRO. Thiscapacity to generate income from nurseries can bedeveloped quite rapidly. For example, the nurserysetup under the RRC of the Promotion of Women’sInitiative in Self-Help Development (PROVISDEV)which has been in existence for only 18 months, isalready full of plants of 15 species, many at a market-able size. Soon, all these communities will also beable to further increase their income by selling fruitsfrom their named cultivars.

Table 2 | Income generated by relay organizations fromsale of plants in 2009

Name of relayorganization

Duration ofcollaboration with

ICRAF

Incomegenerated

(US$)

MIFACIG 10 years 21,000

GIC PROAGRO 5 years 40,000

RIBA 5 years 1,454

APADER 5 years 6,550

PIPAD 2 years 140

GICAFABOONG

2 years 140

AJP CEDES 2 years 100

PROVISDEV 2 years 200

Total 69,584



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

Processing and value-addition options fortree productsOne of the constraints to better food processing is thelocal availability of processing equipment. Throughthe involvement of WINROCK International, sevenlocal metal workers have been trained in the designand fabrication of appropriate equipment for dryingand grinding a range of foodstuffs, includingspices and some new agroforestry products not pre-viously processed. This development has createdemployment opportunities. Each of the trainees nowemploys 3–7 people to assist in manufacturing theequipment. By 2009, a total of 56 discharge millsand 18 gas dryers were manufactured and sold.Users were trained in their use. Income generated bythe sales of this equipment totalled US$44,400 in2009. Profits from this enterprise are about 10–20per cent.

Local entrepreneurs and producers are benefitingfrom the use of this equipment to extend the shelflife and quality of their produce. For example, oneentrepreneur – ‘One Man Creation’ – has set up astall in Bamenda Market selling sealed packages ofhigh-quality dried herbs made from indigenousplants, mostly agroforestry trees (Njansang – R. heu-delottii, Bitter leaf – Vernonia spp., Eru – Gnetumafricanum). He sells 150g bags of Eru for US$1.35.Although this is a considerable ‘mark-up’ on freshEru sold in neighbouring stalls, his trade has increasedthree-fold in four months, and the traditional traders inthe market are becoming jealous. This business gener-ated a revenue of US$748 in 2009. Another entrepre-neur, VINJI Spice Enterprise, is processing chillipeppers, garlic and ginger and creating new marketoutlets for these products. This business generatedUS$1,150 in 2009. These small businesses havealso created a few new jobs as each entrepreneurnow has now 2–5 employees.

Food crop processingAbout 100 women organized into four groups estab-lished small commercial companies to processcassava and other crops. These groups employ 5–7people. The income generated in 2009 is presentedin Table 3.

One of these groups, Groupe d’Initiative CommuneFemmes dynamiques pour le developpement dumanioc (GIC FEDDMA), is run by 10 women whoemploy eight workers and process about 66 bags ofdried cassava flour (gari) per day, each bag weighing180 kg. Gabonese traders are buying these bags atUS$40–54 per bag, depending on the season. As

profits are said to be US$2.7 per bag, this suggeststhat each of the 10 women are making an income ofaround US$3,000–4,000 per year. In three othergroups, including Mambu Self-help Group, acassava grinding mill and facilities for the preparationof gari were donated by a USDA-funded project.Mechanization dramatically increased the processingcapacity and a total of 41 tonnes of cassava was pro-cessed into gari from November 2008 to November2009, generating about 1.5 million CFA francs(US$3,000).

MicrofinanceThrough the involvement of FIFFA, the project is alsohelping farmers to obtain short and small-scale loansfor the purchase of inputs such as seeds, fertilizersand hired labour. These loans are very desirable, butare not essential for the longer-term sustainability ofthe project. The RRCs are involved in explaining tofarmers how to apply and pay back their loans.Farmers who make their repayments on time arerewarded with the opportunity of having a largerloan in subsequent years. In the first phase of loans,US$78,000 was made available to over 900 farmersin 82 communities, 70 per cent of whom werewomen. By the end of 2009, US$246,000 was madeavailable to 1,239 farmers – 359 men and 642women. Farmers have benefited greatly from thisaccess to microfinance and are consequently increas-ing their crop production. Secondary benefits fromthe use of these loans for casual labour have includedthe release of children from farm work so that they canattend school.

Table 3 | Income generated by groups processingcassava products, 2009

Name of relayorganization

Duration ofcollaboration with

ICRAF (years)

Incomegenerated

(US$)

Mambu self-help 2 3,000

Sang womenmixed farminggroup

3 498

Groupe EquilibreAlimentaire deModjou

2 3,000

GIC FEDDMA 2 3,000

Total 9,498



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

Community infrastructureWith the assistance of CANADEL, the project ishelping community members to develop communitydevelopment plans finance and implement their ownsmall infrastructure projects. For example, three com-munities have installed water standpipes in their com-munities. Potable water is now being piped fromhillside springs 2–10km away. This clean water hasgreatly improved the health of community membersas well as eliminated the need for women to carrywater from contaminated streams and rivers. Thewater was also being used for livestock, village nur-series and small-scale irrigation of off-season veg-etable plots. By the end of 2009, the programme hadprovided support for nine infrastructure projects,including the construction of boarding facilities atthe MIFACIG RRC. In every case, the communitieswere closely involved in their conception, designand execution. They also contributed towards con-struction and costs. Before the project began, eachcommunity agreed to provide 5 per cent of the costin cash and 10 per cent in kind. The project’s costwas, on average, around 4 million CFA francs(US$8,000), with the road projects being the mostexpensive. The communities were fully involved inthe selection of the contractors, who bid by tender,and the work was supervised by the community’sown development committees.

Impacts of multifunctionalagriculture

The most important and exciting thing about thisproject has been the wide range of positive livelihoodimpacts that are transforming peoples’ lives. A recentstudy identified 31 positive impacts, which are nowbeing verified and quantified.

These impacts include a feeling of empowermentfrom increased knowledge and success; recognitionof a pathway out of poverty; retention of youths inthe villages due to career opportunities; enhancedlivelihoods from improved nutrition, better healthand increased income; and access to children’sschooling, home improvements, wells and so on.Additionally, women indicated reduced drudgery intheir lives from not having to collect water fromrivers and carry farm produce from remote fields, aswell as from mechanical processing of food crops.All these meant that they had more time to lookafter their families and engage in farming or otherincome-generating activities. These impacts strongly

suggest that the domestication of indigenous fruitand nut trees acts as a catalyst to the promotion of self-sufficiency through the empowerment of individualsand community groups through the provision ofnew skills in agroforestry, food production and pro-cessing, community development and microfinance.In this way, it is possible for communities to climbthe entrepreneurial ladder out of poverty. By sodoing, they set themselves on a path towardsimproved livelihoods based on the recognition ofthe social and cultural value of ‘life-supportsystems’ from indigenous species formerly ignoredby agricultural science.

Discussion

This project is an excellent example of how multi-functional agriculture delivers social, economic andenvironmental sustainability and raises poor peopleout of poverty, malnutrition and environmental degra-dation. The prime purpose of this is to get people outof poverty in rural Africa. The approach uses ‘fertili-zer’ trees to improve soil fertility, and then to generateincome from selected cultivars of indigenous fruit andnut trees that have local and regional markets. Thesetree products then need processing and trading,which creates opportunities for employment andentrepreneurism. In this way, we are trying to generateother jobs in the rural economy, so that some farmerscan become processors, value-adders, traders, fabrica-tors of processing equipment and so on. Hopefullytherefore, the exposure of this project resulting fromthis UK Foresight Initiative will help to increase theacceptance of these approaches to resolving the pro-blems of agriculture. The technologies and practicesadopted by this are not specific to any agro-ecologicalzone or country and are already in practice in manycountries of Africa, Latin America, Asia andOceania: in both humid and semi-arid climates. Thenext challenge is the wider implementation andscaling-up of the project concepts. The main capacityconstraint is in the skills of vegetative propagation oftropical trees. The second constraint is the policysupport and appropriate funding to drive the processto the level where adopters see their first trees estab-lished in the field and fruiting.

Conclusion

The lessons learnt from the Agricultural and Tree Pro-ducts Program suggest strongly that it is possible to



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

take the concepts of multifunctional agricultureforward in ways that break the cycles of land degra-dation and social deprivation that have kept nearlyhalf the world’s population in poverty and so tosteer a path towards social, economic and environ-mental sustainability. The programme has been com-plemented by its steering committee as the mostinnovative and holistic of the four ‘Food For Progress’projects funded by the US Department of Agriculturein Cameroon over the past decade. What is needednow is to disseminate these skills and experience tomillions of other poor people in Africa and othertropical countries. There are many ways of doingthis, but one very interesting and outstanding lesson

from this project has been the importance of buildingrural development from the grassroots, using technol-ogies that are simple, practical and easy to implementwithout spending large amounts of money. The nur-series are a good example; the facilities needed arewell within the reach of most farmers once they havehad training in the simple technologies developed bythe World Agroforestry Centre for soil fertility manage-ment and tree domestication. Once established, theseactivities are self-supporting. Additionally, the philos-ophy of self-help integrated rural development promul-gated by the RRCs has been proven to encourage verystrong local participation, and ensured the sustainabilityof the diverse set of activities.

References

Buresh, R. J., Cooper, P. J. M., 1999, ‘The science and practiceof short-term fallows’, Agroforestry Systems 47, 1–358.

Cooper, P. J. M., Leakey, R. R. B., Rao, M. R., Reynolds, L.,1996, ‘Agroforestry and the mitigation of land degradation inthe humid and sub-humid tropics of Africa’, ExperimentalAgriculture 32, 235–290.

Degrande, A., Schreckenberg, K., Mbosso, C., Anegbeh, P. O.,Okafor, J., Kanmegne, J., 2006, ‘Farmers’ fruit tree growingstrategies in the humid forest zone of Cameroon andNigeria’, Agroforestry Systems 67, 159–175.

Degrande, A., Asaah, E., Tchoundjeu, Z., Kanmegne, J.,Duguma, B., Franzel, S., 2007, ‘Opportunities for andconstraints to adoption of improved fallows: ICRAF’sexperience in the humid tropics of Cameroon’, in: A. Bationo,B. Waswa, J. Kihara, J. Kimetu (eds), Advances inIntegrated Soil Fertility Management in Sub-Saharan Africa:Challenges and Opportunities, Springer, The Netherlands,901–909, ISBN: 978-1-4020-5759-5.

Kanmegne, J., Bayomock, L. A., Degrande, A., Asaah, E.,Duguma, B., 2003, ‘Establishment of Inga edulis andCalliandra calothyrsus in improved fallow systems insouthern Cameroon’, Agroforestry Systems 58, 19–124.

Leakey, R. R. B., 1999, ‘Potential for novel food products fromagroforestry trees’, Food Chemistry, 64, 1–14.

Leakey, R. R. B., 2010, ‘Agroforestry: a delivery mechanism formulti-functional agriculture’, in: R. Lawrence Kellimore (ed),Handbook of Agroforestry: Management Practices andEnvironmental Impact, Nova, New York, NY, USA, 461–471.

Leakey, R. R. B., Schreckenberg, K., Tchoundjeu, Z., 2003,‘The participatory domestication of West African

indigenous fruits’, International Forestry Review 5,338–347.

Leakey, R. R. B., Tchoundjeu, Z., Schreckenberg, K.,Shackleton, S., Shackleton, C., 2005, ‘Agroforestry treeproducts (AFTPs): targeting poverty reduction and enhancedlivelihoods’, International Journal of AgriculturalSustainability 3, 1–23.

Leakey, R. R. B., Tchoundjeu, Z., Schreckenberg, K., Simons,A. J., Shackleton, S., Mander, M., Wynberg, R., Shackleton,C., Sullivan, C., 2007, ‘Trees and markets for agroforestrytree products: targeting poverty reduction and enhancedlivelihoods’, in: D. Garrity, A. Okono, S. Parrott (eds), WorldAgroforestry into the Future, World Agroforestry Centre,Nairobi, Kenya, 11–22.

McIntyre, B. D., Herren, H., Wakhungu, J., Watson, R. (eds),2008, International Assessment of Agricultural KnowledgeScience and Technology for Development: Global Report,Island Press, New York.

Schreckenberg, K., Awono, A., Degrande, A., Mbosso, C.,Ndoye, O., Tchoundjeu, Z., 2006, ‘Domesticating indigenousfruit trees as a contribution to poverty reduction’, Forests,Trees and Livelihoods 16, 35–51.

Tchoundjeu, Z., Asaah, E., Anegbeh, P., Degrande, A., Mbile,P., Facheux, C., Tsoberg, A., Atangana, A. R., Ngo-Mpeck,M. L., Simons, A. J., 2006, ‘AFTPs: putting participatorydomestication into practice in West and Central Africa’,Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 16, 53–70.

Tchoundjeu, Z., Degrande, A., Leakey, R. R. B., Nimino, G.,Kemajou, E., Asaah, E., Facheux, C., Mbile, P., Mbosso, C.,Sado, T., Tsobeng, A., 2010, ‘Impacts of participatory treedomestication on farmer livelihoods in west and centralAfrica’, Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 19, 217–234.



Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Was

hing

ton

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

Lib

rari

es ]

at 1

2:01

07

Dec

embe

r 20

14

Trees, agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon

Documents

Transcript of Trees, agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon