Flourishing from fruits of forest
Cameroon farmers spice up earnings with foods that are kind to environment
LUCY Muke, a farmer in Mbalmayo in south-central Cameroon, pointed happily to the pile of processed and bottled liquid pepper, ginger and garlic in front of her door, which she planned to supply to supermarkets in the capital, Yaounde.
The mother-of-three, aged 36, belongs to a group for rural female farmers who have benefited from a government-run support scheme called Agropole. It provides training and funds for farmers to process and market spices and other forest-grown plants, to boost incomes and jobs, while conserving trees and limiting climate change.
Muke said the project, introduced in her region in 2015, had enabled her to make more money, with which she can send her children to school and feed the family.
This season, she harvested and processed a dozen 10kg bags of pepper that sold for 600 000 Central African francs (R14 560).
A bag of fresh pepper fetches 20 000 francs, but when processed into a liquid and bottled, farmers get as much as 50 000 francs for the same weight.
In the past, Muke and her peers lost much of their fresh produce through spoilage due to hot tropical conditions.
But processing and packaging spices is becoming more popular in Cameroon, as it helps small-scale farmers beat the heat.
Agropole co-ordinator Adrian Ngo’o Bitomo said the government scheme helped more than 400 farmer groups in the past five years, four-fifths of them in forest communities, distributing about 22 billion francs in grants.
The programme tackled food security, forest conservation and climate change, as well as the connection between agriculture, forestry and local economies, Bitomo said. The support it provided includes a proportion of farmers’ inputs, processing equipment and start-up funding.
The development of a market information system is also helping to balance supply and demand by providing a channel for buyers and sellers to communicate on prices.
Each group of at least 10 members gets start-up financial support of 10 million francs or more, inputs for planting, training, a grinding machine and a digital weighing scale.
In February, about 10 community groups showed off their processed and packaged products in Yaounde at an international trade exhibition.
“The government support has made us see the rich resources in our forest,” said Helen Ojong, the co-ordinator of Mas Provence Spice Enterprise, a group of more than 60 women producers in Mamfe, south-west Cameroon.
Others specialised in making herbal remedies, and selling leaves and flowers for decoration, she said.
Forestry officials said the project had improved livelihoods, especially women and young people’s, and helped them understand the needed to care for their environment.
“Indigenous forest people are better placed to protect their forest, not just because they love trees and other resources therein, but because it is important for poverty reduction,” said Bruno Mfou’ou Mfou’ou of the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife.
The new skills they acquired in processing herbs and spices meant they no longer relied on the charcoal or bush-meat trade to make a living.
Strengthening rural livelihoods with alternative sources of income was part of the government’s efforts to protect forests and biodiversity, he said. Once communities understood the value of their forest, they became its voluntary guardians, helping the state curb illegal activities such as logging. That, in turn, curbed climate change by keeping trees standing as stores of planet-warming carbon.
Locally produced spices fill shelves in supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and schools in Cameroon and neighbouring countries, officials said.
“By consuming locally processed spices and other food items, we help promote our agriculture and empower our farmers financially,” said Delor Magellan Kamseu Kamgaing, the Cameroon League of Consumers president.
Ministry of Trade statistics show a 20% increase in selling prices, and a rise in sales volume of more than 50% for non-wood forest products between 2014 and last year.
A 2018 report by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership said such products had long been an important part of how forest-dwelling people in Cameroon made their living.
The report said the Agropole programme was fostering a more environmentally benign use of forests, leading to greater interest in collecting natural spices and herbs, and marketing them, with about 283 000 people involved in processing. It estimated the annual value of 16 key products at 32 billion francs, with processing adding 6.4 billion francs, representing a total of 0.2% of the gross domestic product.
Bitomo, the programme co-ordinator, said training farmers had not been easy, with many lagging behind due to high illiteracy. “Lots of patience and longer time is needed,” he said.
The farmers also face challenges in expanding their output because of limited cultivable land – most have only 1 or 2 hectares – in addition to a lack of finance.
Bernard Njonga, the co-ordinator of the Cameroon Support Service for Local Development Initiatives, which aids rural communities, blamed the barriers on a lack of opportunity for them to shape agricultural policy.
“Any measure aimed at addressing agricultural challenges must involve farmers to achieve maximum success,” he said. |