Domestication of Non Timber Forest Products
Wild stocks of a number of non timber forest products (NTFPs) of economic, cultural and medicinal importance in Cameroon are currently threatened due to unsustainable and over exploitation in response to national and international market demands, poverty, ignorance and agricultural expansion. Stocks closer to residential and farming areas are increasingly being depleted causing local people to cover longer distances into the forest to find them.
CENDEP adopted the principle of ‘conservation through cultivation’ and enrichment planting for NTFP species which have potential for on-farm cultivation to ensure their existence and availability in the long term and to offset deficits that may arise in demand and supply from production in the wild.
One of the threatened NTFPs is Gnetum spp (Eru). It is a highly priced and harvested NTFP in the forest regions of Cameroon. Because of free access and high demand, there has been an influx of commercial exploiters from neighboring countries. This has resulted in the fast depletion of the wild stocks but no data is available to substantiate this as no comprehensive inventory is available.
Over the last decade, the Limbe Botanic Garden (LBG) has researched and developed sustainable ways of cultivating eru for both income generation and biodiversity conservation purposes. The LBG has made the following outstanding advances in the domestication and conservation of eru:
- The development of a cultivation model using eru vine cuttings.
- The establishment of experimental/demonstration farms.
- The organisation and training of farmers and extension workers on how to cultivate eru.
- The production of an eru cultivation manual and the establishment of a gene bank.
Since 2000 CENDEP has been involved in Eru chain development activities in the South West Region of Cameroon. This has been with the support of IUCN NL (2004-2005) with a start up grant to train farmers and forest users on domestication and sustainable management of wild stocks; ICCO (2006-2011) with support in production and marketing; New Englands Biolabs Foundation (2007-2008) supported extension of the eru domestication techniques to farmers in the Muyuka area, SW region Cameroon and in 2008 CENDEP collaborated with the RUMPI Area Participatory Project to train more farmers in the SW Region of Cameroon.
Therefore, in 2008 CENDEP embarked on spreading cultivation techniques to new farmers and on assisting old farmers to improve and/or expand existing farms in order to raise production beyond traditional levels to meet local, national and international market demands in the long term. In 2008 the following progress was made:
Since its creation CENDEP has been involved in the multiplication and distribution of eru seedlings to farmers to encourage on farm cultivation and forest enrichment planting. This was meant to conserve the resource as well as improve on the livelihoods of the local population using income from the sales of the product.
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Gnetum spp (Eru) is a highly priced and harvested non-timber forest product in the Mount Cameroon Region. It is already commercially extinct in this region. Harvesting is unsustainable and involves tree felling and off rooting of vines. This contributes to the region’s forest degradation.
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The demand to CENDEP from women’s groups for training and assistance on eru cultivation has kept on growing over the years.
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By the end of 2007, over 640 farmers belonging to 21 Common Initiative Groups had been trained on Eru domestication techniques, and 21 Eru seedling multiplication farms established. During this period CENDEP experimented with drying and marketing of the product.
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By the end of 2007, over 640 farmers belonging to 21 Common Initiative Groups had been trained on Eru domestication techniques, and 21 Eru seedling multiplication farms established. During this period CENDEP experimented with drying and marketing of the product. Processed Eru was introduced in local and international super markets, market analysis of Eru conducted and results presented to some stakeholders in the Eru chain. In mid 2008 a baseline survey was carried out to further guide the development of the Eru chain (see report). However in 2007 the number of farmers who were cultivating Eru was low compared to those who had been trained. Production from domesticated fields (including sustainable management and harvesting of wild stocks found in cultivated fields) was limited due partly to the slow growth rate of the vegetable and the slow adoption rate by trained farmers; so demand still exceeded supply and local consumers had to depend on Eru from outside their community. Notwithstanding, over 30 early adopters of the technology were able to make substantial revenues from Eru domestication, realizing as much as $120/annum as extra revenue from the sales of Eru. These farmers harvest Eru after every three to four months with a yield of up to 1 kg per plant/per harvest i.e. 3 kg of Eru per year, priced at $0.6/kg to $1.9/kg depending on season and availability. For these farmers, Eru became a substantial element of their farms, especially in forest farm gardens.
As a result, tree gardening developed as a farming practice. Earlier in 2006 CENDEP chose the practice of analogue forestry as a guiding principle of biodiversity restoration and income generation. The cultivation of Eru fitted well into this system. So, Eru domestication if widely adopted could be not just a breakthrough in poverty alleviation in the region but also a tool to restore biodiversity using the analogue forestry approach. This inspired us to continue to support farmers interested in Eru domestication.
Therefore, in 2008 CENDEP embarked on spreading cultivation techniques to new farmers and on assisting old farmers to improve and/or expand existing farms in order to raise production beyond traditional levels to meet local, national and international market demands in the long term. In 2008 the following progress was made:
- Training of 5 new groups comprising 230 farmers on Eru domestication and the establishment of a further 5 Eru seed multiplication farms;
- A baseline survey was conducted and identified further constraints to the adoption of Eru domestication by farmers;
- Enhancement of the institutional and organizational capacities of farmers’ organizations involved in Eru domestication. Seven (7) farmer groups were restructured and 4 were legalized. Registration (legalization of the four groups) was financed by the group members themselves. The project only facilitated the restructuring exercise and supported in typing of the minutes;
- Support was given in basic infrastructure and inputs required for the development of Eru domestication to the newly trained groups;
- A simple marketing plan was developed with an earlier trained group interested in embarking on the production and marketing of Eru seedlings. This resulted in the sales of an initial stock of seedlings and the reinforcement of the seed production facility;
- 30 new farmers with stocks of Eru on their farms were identified and support provided in the management of the stocks. Results were promising especially with respect to the use of wildings in farm expansion;
- In order to provide alternative income to the farmers while they wait for the Eru to mature, pepper cultivation was introduced in the Korup National Park area and in the Mount Cameroon area pineapples were introduced. 160 farmers were involved in the pepper cultivation;
- 2046 Eru seedlings were raised and 8 additional individual and 3 group farms established;
- A business plan was submitted for the BID Nature Challenge 2008 competition and ranked amongst the top in Cameroon even though it did not reach the final stage of the competition;
- A business manager was recruited to manage the commercial activities of the organization and to facilitate the establishment of the commercial entity separate from the NGO.
A detailed analysis of this component of our work can be found on our 2008 annual report.
The other component of our activities involved the elaboration of an Exit Strategy detailing how CENDEP plans to make its work on Eru chain development sustainable and when it aims to reach this goal.
In 2008, CENDEP dropped the production and marketing of Eru seedlings as well as the processing and marketing of Eru leaves as these were purely commercial activities and concentrated on charitable activities such as capacity building of local farmers on Eru domestication, enhancement of the institutional and organizational capacities of farmers’ organizations involved in Eru domestication and farmer organization.