Cocoa Farmer Agroforestry, Camerún

This project (a partnership between Trees-for-the Future and Fagrib) began in Western Cameroon to address erosion, food insecurity and the unsustainable farming practices of smallholder cocoa farmers. Through the intercropping of multipurpose trees and fruit trees, this project is helping 500 cocoa farmers grow higher quality cocoa while improving their land, and livelihoods. We are also working with the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) to identify additional beneficial species to intercrop with
cocoa.

1,000,000 trees are planted (2,000 trees/farmer) to help cocoa farmers grow higher quality crops, thus strengthening their lands and income, all while finding additional species to intercrop with cocoa in the future.

Farmers in the project area are being trained to practice:
• Forest garden design to achieve sustainable cocoa, palm, shea, and coffee production
• Nursery development
• Outplanting trees in a living fence
• Alley cropping with nitrogen fixing trees and tree food crops
• Integrated pest management
• Water management techniques
• Grafting fruit trees
• Composting
• Diversification of crops
• Crop rotation
• Permagardening
• Pruning for tree health
• Seed savings
• Use of tree leaves for creating fodder, soil amendments, and mulching

The impact that agroforestry systems achieve based on our past results are:
• Ecosystem synergies that allow the entire intercropping system to produce higher yields.
• Large quantities of biomass for mulching and moisture retention.
• Increased farmer incomes and food security
• Adaptation to climate change and resilience to rainfall variability, including
drought and flooding: reducing the effects of climate-induced hydro meteorological
events by transforming dryland into a sponge that can absorb and channel rainwater
into the ground during heavy rain events and release green water during months of
drought.
• CO2 sequestration-intensive farmland
• Improved soil fertility through intensive pruning, mulching, use of manure and the introduction of nitrogen-fixing (leguminous) cover crops.
• Adopted Organic practices - no pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
• Enhance gender empowerment through engaging more women in the project,
• Increase women and youth employment by creating jobs to the under-privileged
members of society
• More children are going to school and more stay in school longer because
farmers are getting more income to afford their children's education, healthcare,
and family food supply.