Bana Workshop in Conservation Agriculture/L'Agriculture Naturelle

Bana Workshop in Conservation Agriculture/L’Agriculture Naturelle

Madame Oussematou organized and coordinated all of the required preparations for the two day Conservation Farming (l’Agriculture Naturelle) Workshop held November 10 and11 in the Village of Bana. The purpose of the Workshop was for us to expose Bana farmers to the basic principles of Conservation Farming and to gauge their interest in being the core group to spearhead a long term CF pilot project for the area.

Conservation Farming (L’Agriculture Naturelle) Workshop Venue
Bana itself is a distance of about 150 km. south from Bamenda in the West Region of Cameroon. At the outset, some explanation about a few points to do with Cameroon rural life as they relate to Bana may prove useful; for instance, the real meaning of the term ‘village’ in Cameroon culture, traditional structures of Village authority, the nature of peasant farming (l’agriculture paysan), the meaning of conservation farming (l’agriculture naturelle ) or as is referred to in some African countries (e.g. Zimbabwe) ‘farming God’s way’. A few comments also are included on French/Pidgin communication barriers and the need for input in this regard from the local Ministry of Agriculture technical specialist.

A village in rural Cameroon typically refers to an area or tribal district with a traditional royal family and a King who is of royal dynasty or lineage in what is largely a tribal culture. So in Bana the area/village is Na and the prefix Ba simply means ‘people of’. We are informed that Bana is a larger than average size village in Cameroon, covers quite a large area and has a population of about ten thousand.

As appears pretty much the situation for most countries of the African continent, a preponderance of women do the farming of Bana and in fact are the backbone of ‘l’agriculture paysanne’. The imbalance is reflected in the gender mix of participating farmers who attended the workshop, 11 females and 4 males.

The workshop presentation was based on the CFGB Conservation Agriculture power point provided by Alden Braul to the Sorflatens during their visit to the CFGB office in Winnipeg during mid-August 2011. The Bana audience turned out to be totally French speaking (as well as Pidgin) and which we realized long in advance would be the case. I translated and adapted the Conservation Agriculture/ l’Agriculture Naturelle power point into French with assistance from Oussematou, the IDF Coordinator, so as to give it the right Cameroon French flavor.

Further assistance in delivering the presentation (which lasted about three hours overall including follow up discussion) came from the local Ministrie de l’Agriculture extension person, Jean Wouapi (N’Buh which means a highly placed Village Notable). Jean (above right) is a career employee with the Cameroon Ministrie , an agriculture engineer and slated for retirement in two years. Jean was well able to convey all of the more subtle nuances contained in the presentation, especially using Pidgin dialect mixed in with local French idioms of a highly contextual nature. If the Bana proposal takes hold and moves forward, an agricultural specialist and facilitator like Jean Wouapi will be required for successful implementation.

The CF Workshop and presentation was a resounding success! From everything that we could see and hear during the wrap-up at end of day, participants unanimously endorsed the proposition of a pilot project for Bana Village. Day 2 of the Workshop with its tour of several representative farms was an appropriate follow-up. The tour illustrated very well some of the
prevailing cropping practices and the resulting low levels of productivity in some cases, particularly of primary food crops like corn/mais. Workshop participants agreed that the need for farming practices in Bana based on conservation farming principles is evident.

Programme Agenda Planning the Farm Tours

The workshop was excellently planned and coordinated by IDF staff and all participants were well provided for, so much so that there were even a few interested onlookers. These two village elders were actually guests of ‘Matou and seemed to enjoy the proceedings as much as the farmers themselves.

Workshop Day 2

Most of the Workshop Day 2 was devoted to farm tours and viewing the farms of several participants from the previous day. In addition, we also visited the Royal Palace and met with the traditional Chief or Fon (King) of Bana and also the Office of Mayor (l’Hotelier) where we met with the Director of Administration.

The tours were of four farms in total, two of them farming livestock (pigs) and one of those with a few vegetable crops, pretty well entirely for family consumption. The two pig farms were one and two sow operations, one of them feeding out the weanlings and the other selling weanlings to another farmer for feeding out. The pigs, sows and feeders, mostly get to eat the green part of the cassava plant, other plants, and kitchen scrap. As it turned out, based on our further research it just so happens that feeding uncooked cassava to pigs is highly problematic for the health of the pig in the same way as it is for humans on account of the toxic nature of the cyanide product contained in chemical makeup. Our little bit of on-line research here was prompted by the untimely death of some pigs that we were advised of in Wum.

The other two visits were of crop farms, one of them operated by a woman doing corn/mais and Irish potatoes on a few hectares (at more than one location) and the other by a fellow (named Victor) with quite a large area of horticulture, maize and root crops (about 4 or 5 hectares). Victor’s range of crops (extended family production actually) is quite diverse and the mix includes corn, coffee, Irish potato, banana, okra, oil palm, beans, ground nuts, cassava (white and yellow or sweet), yam, cocoyam, melangin, plum, and farmed fish (talapia) from the on-site farm pond.

Visit to Traditional Chief (Fon) of Bana

After completing our farm tours early afternoon of Day 2 we made an obligatory visit to the Kingdom of Bana Royal Palace and were honoured to have an audience with His Royal Majesty Sikam Happi V, the traditional King (Chefferie Traditionelle) or Fon of Bana. By Cameroon standards we were told Sikam is very young to be in such a high position. He is perhaps around 30 years of age, possibly a little less and became King 7 years ago upon the death of his father. Even though he has more than one wife, his values as a young King, we are told, differ markedly from the more traditional ways. For instance, he doesn’t lay back on his laurels waiting for his subjects to support him, but is enrolled in university and pursuing higher education. We each made short introductions about ourselves (in French) and I observed that in her comments ‘Matou spoke of the Conservation Agriculture Workshop to which the King responded with a sincere nod of his head.’

In those regions of Zimbabwe that were evaluated in the tri-partite CFGB project, local government and traditional leaders were considered to be important participants leading to success of the projects. The importance of maintaining healthy working relationships with local leadership was emphasized. The report said that "CF projects must coordinate and consult with all relevant stakeholders so as to to minimize challenges and conflict during the project. This should include working closely with local and regional government authorities, government agriculture extension services, local elected and traditional leaders (like the Chief) and other NGOs working in agriculture and community development" (e.g. like IDF).

All of our company were honoured when HRM Sikam invited the five of us to be his guests for dinner. In all, we were; Thérèse Oussematou of IDF, Josef Tafrey (our good friend and rice farmer from Menchum Valley/ Wum), M’Buh Jean Wouapi (agricultural engineer and Bana extension specialiste, Ministère de l’Agriculture du Cameroon and Noteable) plus CESO VA’s Lydia and Allan Sorflaten. The menu included goat meat, corn foufou, cassava and plantain and a choice of pop, beer, or wine as beverage. The wine was a superb 2005 Bordeaux, not really standard drink in this part of Cameroon and served in juice glasses. After eating (not actually with the King) we met him again on the steps of the Palace (an excellent photo opportunity), chatted for a few minutes and exchanged gifts (white Canadian ball cap and small flag of Canada). His gifts to our party were individual invitations to a special Royal event, a ‘fantasia’ being held at the Palace Sunday November 20, 2011, ‘La Reception Que Nous Offrons a l’Occasion des Funerailles des Reines, Princes, et Princesses.’ As the event promised to be very cultural and replete with traditional singing, music and dance, we decided once again to make the long trek from Bamenda to Bana on that day. (Note: at the time of writing this blog, we’ve now just returned from that event and indeed it has exceeded all expectations)!

Visit to Local Government Officials

A further official visit was made during the Day 2 workshop afternoon to the Bana town hall and a short visit with the Secretary General or chief administrator of the local government. ‘Matou told him about the

Conservation Agriculture Workshop just completed. At its conclusion she was exceptionally pleased with the visit as it resulted in her being provided with a municipal document that she’d been trying to access for a very long time. She suggested in all seriousness that it was the presence of a couple of Canadians who influenced the release of the long sought after document.

Soil Fertility

Officials with the Canadian Food Grains Bank recognize that after years of cultivation using poor management systems and few if any inputs such as fertilizer and organic matter, the soil fertility in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa is at a record low and on the decline. This is as true for the Cameroon, and in particular the area around Bana, as it is elsewhere on the continent. As further stress is put on the soil resource from increasing populations, economic conditions and reduced fallow periods, soil fertility continues to decline. The soil environment, the poor local economy and the largely indigenous farming systems that characterise Bana make the sizeable agrarian population extremely vulnerable to changing weather patterns, increased poverty and food insecurity. The overwhelming poverty among most farmers makes it difficult and next to impossible to deal in a meaningful way with soil fertility issues. We were told that these days it is just about impossible for a farmer to relocate to another site and expect any crop to grow on account of the widespread soil infertility. Manufactured fertilizer is just about impossible to secure for reasons of cost, as is also the purchase of livestock manure from the outlying graziers. If soil fertility does not begin to improve, the region is doomed! However, with the possibility of moving to more sustainable (CF type) farming practices (some of which is already happening in a number of African nations) and a glimmer of interest by some national governments in CF principles, there is reason for hope! We hope there is hope as well for Cameroon.

What Was Learned From the Farm Tours?

 Bana small holding farmers are practising very few if any of the principles associated with CF, generally no ‘zero tillage’, no mulching as a rule, though from what we were able to ascertain from the farm tours, perhaps some limited crop rotation practice.

 The soil is extremely infertile and most farmers do not/cannot apply fertilizer amendments. There are little if any applications of manure purchased from livestock graziers for reasons of cost. Around Bana, the fertility issue seems to have been dealt with over the years and right up to the present by abandoning one plot after it has been used for a time and allowed to run out and then moving on to another location. In this way the downward spiral repeats itself and the farmer moves on to another location for a time until this land too becomes depleted. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to find suitable locations on which to farm in such desparate fashion.

 Soil ph considerations and the need for correcting soil acidity with lime was a non-starter even among the Agriculture Ministry extension person.

 Even among what I consider is the most progressive farmer we encountered among the group, it still was extremely surprising to see Victor and the others consistently planting field crops in rows running down the slope rather than across the slope in a terraced fashion and in what I suspect should be standard practice.

 Even where large accumulations of potential mulching materials have accumulated, no thought or effort seems to have been made to consider it as cover for the soil and the benefits from mulch that can accrue as with CF principles. Even in that seemingly productive area north of Bafoussam (note: our visit with Paul Ymele of the Bafoussam



Rotary Club), field after field of this ‘baysage’ was simply accumulation from the previous crop’s clean up being readied for burning.

 There is a medium height fern-like weed that farmers appear to encourage the growth of in corn and other of their row crops. They explained that the shade from its rather plentiful canopy discourages the growth of other weeds. I am extremely doubtful of any net benefit that can accrue to whatever crop is at risk here (we see it purposely left in corn, potatoes and beans, etc.)) on account of the net nutrient uptake differentials that are likely to occur. A clean cover of mulch may be the more desirable alternative.