Appendix
9.4 Implementation of Participatory Tree Domestication
The innovative approach used to domesticate indigenous trees and bring them into wider cultivation was welcomed by resource-poor farmers. ICRAF staff and associated non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations and national agricultural research systems offer assistance in the form of training that facilitated the domestication of indigenous trees and the establishment of pilot village nurseries for tree propagation. Pilot nurseries were established between 1998 and 1999 in the villages of Nkolfep, Ting Melen and Ngoumou within the forest zone and Belo in the humid savannah zone of Cameroon (Table 9.1). The farmer groups approached ICRAF to establish these nurseries, which played the role of school nurseries, farmers coming from a distance of 10–15 km for training. Since then, farmers have been acquiring the necessary skills to create satellite nurseries in their own villages. In order to reach out to villages that were unfamiliar with ICRAF activities, NGOs that were already working with these communities were used. These groups typically began with 20–30 farmers and as time passed the group declined to a core of 15 to 20 members who were committed to the training programme. As fruit, spices, barks, leaves and other vegetables are usually sold by women, they constituted about 25% of trained farmers.
During meetings held with farmers to agree on the concept and strategies for tree domestication, it was made clear to farmers that tree domestication was an opportunity to increase and diversify their income through self-employment, not an opportunity for employment by ICRAF. It was also agreed that once farmers’
groups had taken the decision to host a pilot nursery, ICRAF would only supply the materials that the farmers could not afford, such as nursery equipments and fertilizers. All other materials for the nurseries were provided by the farmers, attesting to the participatory nature of the domestication and also ensuring the sustainability of the activities over time. The main criteria for the choice of nursery sites made by farmers were a regular water supply throughout the year and the security of the plants produced. Farmers were responsible for the day-to- day running of the nursery, and they were asked to appoint someone within their group to be in charge of the execution of the day-to-day activities. To assure the sustainability of the project, no financial incentive was given to any of the Table 9.1. Location and year of establishment of village nurseries in the humid forest and savannah zones of southern Cameroon.
Humid forest zone Savannah zone
Year of Year of
Village establishment Village establishment
Abondo 1998 Belo(MIFACIG /CIPCRE) 1999
Essong Mintsang 2001 Dichami 2003
Abondo II 2001 Njinikom
Nkolfep 1998 Mboini (CIPCRE) 2001
Elig-Nkouma 1999 Baichi 2003
Nkom-Efoufoum 2001 Kikfuini 2003
Nkef II 2001 Wombong 2003
Lekie Assi 2001 Bohim 2003
Mpong 2001 Mumifag 2004
Mbelelekie 2003 Fundong(CIPCRE)
Mbagbang 2004 Abuh 2003
Kalnagha 2004 Twafundong 2003
Ting-Melen(CRATAD) 1999 Atoini 2004
Nlobisson 2002 Upper Boyo(CIPCRE)
Ayo 2003 Upper Boyo 2003
Alomba 2003 Santa
Essang 2003 Na’ah (MIFACIG) 2004
Makenene 2004 Kumbo
Ngoumou(ATD) 1999 Riba 2004
Ottotomo 2001 Nkon-Bibega 2003
Yop (FONJAK) 2003
Akoazole 2003 Ekowondo 2003
Le Vaillant 2004
Bafia 2004
Ondeck(SAILD) 2003
Epkwassong(SAILD) 2003
Names in italics are the pilot village in each district; names listed below them are the satellite villages/organizations. Names of associated NGOs are in parentheses.
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:
● Dependent: nurseries under development needing careful attention and technical assistance from ICRAF staff and partners on weekly basis.
● Semi-dependent: the group members of these nurseries have mastered at least one propagation technique and only require technical assistance from ICRAF staff or partners twice a month.
● Semi-autonomous: nurseries requiring only occasional assistance as the members have mastered at least two vegetative propagation techniques and are applying them to other species. Members of this group are generating income from the sale of improved plants they have produced as well as from products from their outplanted cultivars.
9.4.2 Scaling up in the region
Scaling up of participatory domestication techniques is being implemented in several countries in West and Central Africa. In southeast Nigeria ten satellite nurseries have developed from an original nursery near Onne (Port Harcourt area). In the Democratic Republic of Congo 25 nurseries have been formed in Bandudu, Equateur and Bas Congo Provinces. In Gabon and Equatorial Guinea the spread has been slower than in other countries, perhaps because of the absence of NGOs in rural areas to supervise the farmers’ groups. Only four nurseries are functional in the two countries. However, a lot of emphasis has been put on marketing studies in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. In Ghana and Nigeria a fruitful partnership was developed with Unilever for the domestication of Allanblackia spp. Germplasm collection and vegetative propagation techniques were developed for this important species. In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Conakry it is expected that new funding will soon stimulate tree domestication activities, as a survey undertaken in Liberia has clearly indicated that the resource-poor population of this country, which is just getting out of conflict, will need skills for tree domestication to improve their livelihood.
9.4.3 Integration of improved propagules in the farming systems
Studies on the integration of companion crops in cash crop fields are in progress (Leakey and Tchoundjeu, 2001). The plants produced in village nurseries are integrated into gaps in different cropping systems, starting from home gardens, and extending into food crops and coffee or cocoa farms. Propagation of mature trees by marcotting or grafting reduces the height of the resulting trees and many farmers have found the early fruiting characteristic of marcotts a great incentive for the adoption of this propagation technique. Moreover, the dwarf size of marcotts makes harvesting easier for farmers, who face the possibility of a fatal accident during fruit collection from taller trees. Cultivars developed by rooting cuttings from juvenile coppice shoots result in plants with more vigour and strong apical dominance. Though they fruit earlier, their height is similar to that of plants from seedlings, making them better able to shade cash crops such as cocoa and coffee
than the marcotts. Therefore, through participatory tree domestication, different statures of trees can be produced. This offers opportunities for the development of multistrata cocoa/coffee agroforests, which have the advantage of buffering against fluctuations in world commodity prices while providing environmental services (Leakey et al., 2003).