An Overview Of Our Solution
Historically, most of the actions to protect nature in the countries of the South have focused on strengthening the protection of areas rich in biodiversity against access by local populations. Since independence, international support has supported the State as a central actor in attempting to strengthen regulatory measures to protect, organize surveillance & the system of repression. The large environmental projects have mobilized very little means on the development of the economic activities of the populations. It has to be said that this approach has not produced convincing results, particularly in French-speaking Africa. Both in the Sudano-Sahelian zone & in the Congo Basin, the state of biodiversity is alarming. Parks often exist only on paper & are subject to pressure of clearing, entire ecosystems are emptied. And yet this situation is not inevitable.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
General Information
Organization type
À but non lucratif
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Population impacted
4000 People
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
3500ha
Production quantity
23 tonnes
People employed
14 people
Solution
Describe your solution
Subsistence farming, characterized by the practice of burning wood, is one of the main causes of deforestation in the periphery of the RBD. It is practiced primarily in forest areas or on its peripheries since it depends on forests to restore soil fertility & sometimes render them unproductive, which in This in turn increases pressure on the forest. The influence of such activity is no less important for the reserve (loss of biological diversity, destruction of animal habitat, loss of animals’ species, etc.). Cocoa agroforestry appear to be the best solution to diversification in terms of diversity, carbon, etc. They store about 60% of the amount of forest carbon per unit area (Sonwa, 2008) and have both an economic and ecosystemic advantage. The rehabilitation of the environment is based on the regeneration of old cocoa beans, which includes integrated pest management and the renovation of highly degraded plantations. The regeneration consists in making the existing plantations produce the maximum by the traditional techniques of agronomy and this without significant modification of the areas cultivated.
In areas where forest degradation is fairly extensive, cocoa trees are the only places that recall forests that have disappeared due to their biological diversity and their contribution to thermal regulation and nutrient cycling. The well-executed project will lead to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and improving carbon stocks and participating
Implementation
Describe your implementation
-Organize awareness campaigns for cocoa farmers in 23 villages: presentations of production scenarios, expected gains; The producer being at the center of the approach will have to voluntarily engage in the project for an effective participation.
-Organize trainings of facilitators and nurserymen based in the project villages; These are the key agents in the implementation of the project, their capacity building contributes to the sustainability of the action. They are based in the villages of the project area and can intervene at any time.
-Identify fallow areas for development and build production nurseries for 50,000 improved cocoa plants, 50,000 plantain plants, 500 pear plants, 500 bush mango plants and 500 Ndjangsang plants. In order to integrate the principles of sustainable development into the agricultural practices of the populations and concern for sustainability, the involvement of farmers at all stages of the process is necessary.
-Set up cocoa plantations (about 1200 plants / ha) in fallow land to be valued. The fallows identified will be valued and this valorization will avoid the local populations to open new areas of forest for the creation of new plantations. The peasants will be accompanied technically and materially and labor will be provided by households. Individual plots will not exceed one hectare in order to ensure adequate monitoring by the beneficiary.
-Diversify cocoa plants with plantain (approximately 1200 plants/ha) and domesticated fruit
External connections
1.French Foundation for Global Environment (FFEM),UICN (International Union for Nature Conservation)
2.MAN AND NATURE
3.GIZ
4. University of Yaoundé 2 Soa.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
According to UNESCO, the reserve is considered to be exceptional for its biodiversity and hosts more than 100 species of mammals, including a large diversity of primates (17 species). The primary forest of the reserve is also interesting by the diversity of its flora & its primitive state preserved. It belongs to the forest block considered to be the most important in Africa from the point of view of its biological diversity. The climate is typically equatorial, hot & humid w/ four seasons including two rainy seasons that range from August to November and March in June and two dry seasons from December to February and during the month of July. The average annual temperature is 24 ° C and the average annual rainfall varies between 1182 mm and 2346 mm of rain over the years. In addition to the usual threats to the conservation of RBD ecosystems, such as poaching, logging & practices of riparian populations that do not respect the environment (shifting shrub cultivation, illegal logging
Describe the context in which you are operating
Since 2010, Tropical Forest and Rural Development (TF-RD) has been working with communities living in the northern part of the reserve on an endogenous dynamics based on development of agroforestry system Cocoa plantations enriched with plantains and other local trees on old fallows. It follows an approach based on the notions of "landscape" and land-use planning which aims to enhance the sustainable use of village land, thereby avoiding deforestation of virgin forest zones while involving all the stakeholders in the conservation and protection of the environment, especially women.
This is an innovative approach based on the notions of landscape and spatial planning and which seeks to enhance development of the village territories and their sustainability, improve their standard of living while involving other Stakeholders, particularly women.
In order to achieve these objectives and to achieve solid results, our methodology consists in identifying and bringing together all the environmental, social and economic constraints and objectives of the producers within the localities around the Dja biosphere reserve.
It dealt with:
Organizing sensitization campaigns for cocoa farmers with presentations of the scenarios & expected gains;
Identify fallows to be valued & build nurseries for the production of improved plants;
Set up new cocoa plantations in the fallow land;
Set up a cocoa seedling farm for production of improved variety;
Diversify cocoa trees w/ economical fruit
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
1. Thanks to this approach, 140 ha of agroforestry have been developed on old fallow land, allowing for "deforestation avoided" of 140 ha of forests that would have been used for the establishment of these agroforests if the Approach was not put in place. And this proves that the fight against climate change can pass by means other than the incentive approaches formally classified in the category "REDD +". 2. The diversification of the cultures, via an association of cocoa, banana Plantain, cocoyam, and other local trees within agroforests has been shown to be an important factor in controlling adverse climatic conditions such as drought during the dry season. Adapted to the effects of climate change, the agroforestry approach has caused the farmers to become resilient to any shock resulting from effects of climate change.
3. Cocoa farmers are now grouped together in a cooperative, and ¼ of them are already involved in a quality process by seeking certification
Language(s)
French, Ewondo
Water
Within the framework of the Rainforest ALLIANCE certification programme we have carried out a series of 6 trainings sessions on sustainable management of water resources and waste matter .Women have been trained best practices for the effective disposal and control of waste matter to avoid water pollution. The farmers who carryout spraying of chemicals to treat their farms also received trainings on adequate measures to dispose off used chemicals. The impact of this training is the good quality
Food Security/Nutrition
1.Fruits trees planted within the plantations produce fruits used as food supply, pollen production for apiculture 2.Cocoa Beans used for the production of cocoa butter and other bi -products (powder for chocolate production) 3. Bush mango: Its importance as a non timber forest product to improve on the biodiversity (economic trees) .is also very useful for consumption as food in moste dishes. 4 Banana plantains cultivated within the cocoa plantations provide a sustainable source of food and
Economic/Sustainable Development
1. From an economic point of view, woody species in cocoa trees are also useful for the production of human and / or animal-consumable goods: fruits, seeds, fodder, wood, fibers, medicines, and the role of Production of fertilizers by leaves, branches or dead roots. This diversification is a benefit for biodiversity and a basis for adaptation to climate change 2. The economic gains for cocoa farmers are not negligible and have been increased by an average of 600 Euros per hectare per year throu
Climate
The importance and impact of the approach put in place by agroforestry within our zone of intervention help to improve on the biodiversity as well as solutions to adaptation to climate change (economic trees) .Cocoa farms enriched with such local trees help to build resistance to negative climate change effects such as drought thereby improving on the resilience of the farmers.. Fruits used for food supply and local tree to improve on biological diversity which helps in adaptation process of p
Sustainability
TF-RD has gained legitimacy in the area with local populations for more than 10 years and will continue to ensure their actions even after the end of the project. Moreover, thanks to the training received and the collaboration maintained between cooperative and NGOs over the years, the research results obtained valued many years after the end of the project, via the NTFP. The marketing company Tropical Forest Food and Cosmetics, once economically autonomous, with its distribution and buyer network, will become the central element / engine that will "drive the production" of NTFP by placing orders with NGOs and cooperatives producing in the field.
Tropical Forest has developed a system of within the value chain that is sustainable.
Return on investment
The value chain put in place within the system has provided for support to the activities carried out within the groups of women collecting the NTFP. The objectifs is to add value to the chain of production and boost the returns on Investissement from the valorization natural resources
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
TF-RD is now credible to other national and international organizations. In view of the impacts created within the framework of the model of conservation and development. A training department has been set up to replicate the landscape approach to other sites. TF-RD has solicited by 3 organizations to activate the same activities on other sites
ZSL and African Wildlife foundation who are taking care of the whole reserve have solicited
- In Djoum -Mintom.We have the ZSL (Zoological Society of London) who requested the expertise of TF-RD to replicate the approach on the structuring and training of women's groups valuing NTFP
At the Northern periphery of the Reserve Dja ,AWF (African Wildlife Foundation) has solicited our organization to replicate the approach of conservation of biodiversity through community support in the implementation of cocoa-based agroforests enriched with plantain And other local economic fruit trees.