Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
farmers. Tasks related to nursery establishment, as well as dates for completion of
these tasks, were planned with farmers. Then training in elementary nursery
techniques and methods of vegetative propagation was gradually introduced to
the farmer groups. Once the farmers were familiar with these techniques, they
were encouraged to practise the skills they had learned on trees of their choice.
As farmers are aware of trees in their own area with particular characteristics, the
participatory approach has resulted in the development of off-season cultivars of
Dacryodes edulis
. Fruits from late-maturing trees of this species fetch higher
prices, and thus have contributed significantly to the stabilization of the farmers'
income throughout the year.
9.4.1 Expanding the network of village nurseries
When farmers from neighbouring villages who were participating in training in
pilot nurseries had mastered tree propagation techniques, they created
nurseries in their own village with the assistance of ICRAF staff. This has
resulted in a growing network of satellite nurseries around pilot or school
nurseries. The growth in the number of nurseries has been especially fast in the
humid savannah zone (Table 9.1), where the most successful group, the Tantoh
Mixed Farming Common Initiative Group (MIFACIG), developed a nursery that
generated income that grew from US$2000 in 2002 to US$5000 in 2004 and
US$5844 in 2005. This nursery contains demonstration plots of
Prunus
africana
, and marcotts of
Dacryodes edulis
,
Cola nitida
, citrus, oranges and
mangoes fruiting within 2-3 years after planting. The demonstration plots have
stimulated the adoption of participatory tree domestication by farmers of the
region. Another nursery in the humid forest zone (Lekie Assi) generated
US$1300 in 2004 and has a business plan in 2005 indicating greater profits. In
general, for the first 2 years, the nursery products were mainly used to satisfy
the cultivation needs of the farmers themselves. Thereafter, farmers started to
sell improved plants. Income generation generally depends on the location of
the nursery, those having easy access to markets being the most profitable.
Satellite nurseries were started in 1999-2000 in the forest zone (Nkom
Efoufoum, Elig-Nkouma, Abondo and Nkolfeb). Two years later, five other satellite
nurseries were created in Essong Mintsang, Abondo II, Nkom Efoufoum, Nkef II,
Lekie Assi, Mpong and Ottotomo, followed by one nursery at Nlobisson in 2002
and five more in 2003 at Mbelekie, Ayo, Alomba, Essang and Nkong-Bibega
(Table 9.1). Through strategic partnerships with two NGOs (SAILD - Service
d'Appui aux Initiatives Locales de Développement, Cameroon - and FONJAK -
Fondation Fritz Jacob, Cameroon), five nurseries were created in the southern
province of Cameroon in 2003 at Yop, Akoazole, Ondeck, Ekpwassong and
Ekowondo. The multiplication of nurseries in the humid savannah has also been
quite fast. Six nurseries were established in Njinikom between 2001 and 2004,
two in Belo in 1999 and 2003, three in Fundong in 2003 and 2004, and one each
in Santa and Kumbo in 2004. Technical support and follow-up management were
implemented depending on the length of the group's experience and their degree
of technical competence. Nurseries were then classified as follows:
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