Over 75000 agroforestry and medicinal trees have been planted in the West and Littoral Regions of Cameroon. The tree species including Acacia, Leucaena, Prunus, Moringa, and Neems , were planted in some three divisions of the West Region and one division of the Littoral Region. They were planted, July and August, 2018 around water catchments and in degraded lands by the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) to ensure the continuous flow of water as well as improve on soil fertility in these communities.
ERuDeF’s Agroforestry and Agricultural Development Coordinator for West and Littoral regions, Emmanuel Ngome, said the planting of these trees was motivated by a number of factors. “We noticed that farmer’s farms were degraded and needed to be restored. They have since been applying chemicals fertilizer in their farms, which made their productivity to drop drastically. Water sources, besides being contaminated, are drying up. So we had to work with our field based technicians and farmers in communities around the West and Littoral Regions to plant agro forestry and medicinal trees while also promoting hybrid of fruit trees through grafting in farmers’ farms,” he expounded.
Meanwhile farmers in communities within these regions greeted the tree planting exercise with lots of joy. “I am overwhelmed with joy and lucky to be part of this life changing program. Over 2000 tree species of Acacia and Leucaena have been planted in my farm using the alley approach. I believe that with the present of these nitrogenous fixing trees, my farm productivity will improve,” and Menoua based farmer, testified.
The tree planting exercise, it should be noted, is in line with ERuDeF’s objective to improve on food security and incomes of resource poor farmers through the restoration of degraded agricultural landscapes. The organisation has been engaged agroforestry and agricultural development since 2007 with the support of Trees for the Future, USA.