Fifteen agroforestry technicians drawn from the Southwest, West, North West and Littoral Regions, February 2-3, 2016 received specialized training on marcotting and grafting, farm optimization models and project reporting.
By Payong Marquise
Organized by Trees for the Future Cameroon, the training gave the technicians an opportunity to keep themselves abreast with modern techniques of increasing agricultural productivity and ameliorating the living standards of their respective families.
Facilitating the training, Johnson Chongwain and Shu Neba both professional agroforestry technicians challenged their fellow farmers to spread the knowledge acquired to other farmers in their respective communities.
They re-echoed the programs’ slogan for 2016 ‘Saving Lives and Putting Smiles on People’s Faces’ as they guided the participants through the various stages of establishing forest gardens and other farm optimization models in their farms.
“Our focus from 2016 is creating model Forest Gardens in all the Divisions through prioritization. In this case, farmer’s needs are known from day one of inception so that by the third to the fifth year, they will be smiling since the same farm will give them enough food and money to solve other problems in their household. This will improve their wellbeing and reduce poverty,” Shu Neba said.
The training, which coincided with the launching of the 2016 action plan for Trees For The Future Cameroon, gave the technicians a unique opportunity to acquire practical skills to start this year’s activities.
According to Jeukeng Joseph, agroforestry technician from Menoua division, the training did not only sharpen his skills on ways of boosting the productivity of his farm but it also helped him to acquire new reporting skills after every implementation.
“I have been longing for an opportunity like this and I am really thankful to Trees For The Future Cameroon for providing us with such an opportunity. I am going back today with a stronger determination not only to apply what I have learnt here but also to spread the knowledge I have acquired to other farmers in my Division,” Jeukeng said.
Youmsi Justin from Moungo Division shared his heartfelt gratitude with Trees For The Future Cameroon for providing the training at the most appropriate time.
He said it is better to get this training and get more grafted species than to be given a few grafted seedlings as has been the case in previous years.
Youmsi added that with the skills, he will be able to provide more grafted fruit trees and make additional income and improve on the wellbeing of his household.
