Over 3000 tree species of Acacia and Leucaena have successfully been planted around the Koubi Water Development Project Site in Ekambeng village, Kupe Muanenguba Division of Southwest Cameroon. Villagers of the Ekambeng community braved the rains, Tuesday June 2017 to plant the trees.
According to the villagers, the threat of their water source drying up due to human activities around the catchments and the fallouts of climate change, greatly motivated their action towards planting as many trees as possible around their catchment.
“The volume of water in our catchment has been considerably reducing and we could not ascertain the cause. After attending a transplanting workshop at the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF), we developed interest in the tree species. After haven transplanted the trees, we are quite sure that in 2 to 3 years’ time, the volume of our water will increase from 500m3 to 1500m3. In addition, we hope the quality will be improved. Thus, we have decided to restrict all human activities within 50 meters from the water source,” Njume Peter, the President of the water committee said.
The Southwest Agroforestry Coordinator at ERuDeF, Emmanuel Ebang, explained that the villagers showed more interest at the beginning of 2017, when they nursed 10,000 seeds of acacia and Lucaena trees. They have transplanted 3000 already at their catchment site, while hoping to plant the others soon.
He urged the population of Ekambeng village, and by extension, the entire Kupe Muanenguba Division, to ensure that all the trees they had nursed in March are planted. Mr. Ebang advised the people against the cutting down of trees around the catchment and the planting of eucalyptus tree given that such species could drain all available water around the catchment.
In collaboration with Trees for the Future, ERuDeF through its Department of Agroforestry and Agricultural Development, builds capacity and empowers farmers across Cameroon on modern techniques of practicing agriculture, using agroforestry. The second quarter tour shall be dedicated to nursery monitoring and evaluation, including bare stem transplanting.
By Ngome Emmanuel
