Bees/or Development Journal 80 CAMEROON

APICULTURE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN CAMEROONPart II: Successful co-operativesEmmanuel 0 NuesirL Oxford University Centre for the Environment UKand Eunice E Fombad Forest. Resources and People, Limbe, Cameroon

In BfDJ79 the authors introduced the beekeeping situation in Cameroon.Here they describe their research findings.

IntroductionThe objective of our study, carried out over a period of six months (Nuesiri& Fombad, 2005), was to obtain a baseline understanding of beekeepinggroups in the Cameroon Highlands eco-region and their contribution tobiodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. Research methodsincluded literature review and semi-structured interviews.

Apicultural initiativesTwo successful, local groups are at the forefront of apicultural initiatives inthe region:

Apiculture and Nature Conservation Organisation (ANCO) Bamenda, NWPANCO was formed in 1992 and was known as the North West Beefarmers1

Association (NOWEBA). Its goal is to promote conservation bee farming,market bee products and alleviate poverty in the rural North West Provinceof Cameroon. In 2002, it changed its name to Apiculture and NatureConservation Organisation. The founder and director is Paul Mzeka. ANCOhas two principal areas of intervention: apicultural training and natureconservation. The group's motto is 'plant a tree and save a bee'. ANCOsensitises the communities in which it works to shun the destructivepractice of using bush fires when carrying out harvesting of honey from thewild, and actively encourages afforestation with emphasises on melliferousplants.

The group is a co-operative made up of smaller groups and does not allowindividual membership. ANCO targets groups consisting of unemployedyouths and women (the latter were barred from honey harvesting in therecent past). It has 230 local community groups who provide the headoffice with honey for sale. Working with rural community groups toachieve its goals, ANCO has trained over 2,955 bee farmers and 44 localexperts' suitable as community trainers. Despite a fair amount of financialsupport from a number of international sources, ANCO still faces thefollowing constraints: Lack of capacity building for new staff; Lack oftransportation facilities which necessitates the use of hired transport withits attendant risks and delays; Lack of financial resources to invest instrengthening the co-operative because external funding has beenpiecemeal and small.

Despite these constraints, ANCO is the most well known beekeepingcooperative in the Cameroon Highlands, and ANCO's honey is marketed inall the major cities in Cameroon's forest region including Yaounde andDouala.

Beekeeping, Development and Conservation (BDC) Limbti, SWPTerence Njuakom formed BDC. in 2002 at the end of the DFID-fundedMt Cameroon Project Limbe. Terence had worked as the beekeepingexpert, and took up the challenge of promoting beekeeping andconservation in the region at the end of the project. BDC's mission is thatby 2008 the communities in and around the Cameroon mountainsecosystem range are efficiently carrying out beekeeping with conseguentimprovements in livelihoods, biodiversity conservation and alleviation ofpoverty. BDC's motto is 'more trees, more bees, more honey, more money,more happiness'. Specific objectives include: To build the capacities ofcommunities and improve livelihoods: To establish beekeeping as analternative to destructive use of natural resources; To promote thetransformation and marketing of apicultural products and eguipment; Tocreate an apicultural research, demonstration and information unit.

BDC on average sells 13,000 litres of honey per year, generating an annualincome of US$60,000 (€46,200). Located in rented premises within theLimbe Botanic Garden, with five permanent staff, one motorcycle and onevehicle. BDC works with local community beekeeping groups. BDCmaintains that it cannot meet the local market demand for honey. Micro-financing has been received from Cameroon's National Employment Fund.GTZ and Cameroon's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. BDCtrains groups and individuals on bee farming and in turn buys their honeyand markets it. Constraints experienced by BDC include inadeguatetraining, lack of finance for purchase of beekeeping equipment, poorgovernment support and lack of funding for local research.

Other beekeeping organisations of note include:

- Belo Rural Development Project (BERUDEP) Bamenda was founded in1997 by Simon Ngwainmbi and trains local communities in NWP

- Rural Development through Apiculture (RUDA) Limbe was formed in2002 and trains local communities in the Mount Cameroon region.

- YADIKWA Honey is a private business venture set up in 1998 by YahyahDivine Kwa.

Nurturing apiculture in CameroonCameroon's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the nation's currentdevelopment blueprint, places a strong emphasis on diversifying thenation's economy. It notes that one of the principal ways of doing this is byproviding financial, infrastructural and institutional support toagric-business initiatives in rural areas. In its implementation, theemphasis has been on providing farmers with improved varieties of seeds,opening up farms to market roads, and supporting micro credit schemes.There is little in the Paper that targets the development of alternativeincome-generating sectors such as apiculture. There is a need to addressthis oversight if the beekeeping sector is to fulfil its potential of alleviatingpoverty while conserving the natural resource base. Governmental supportis a reguired catalyst for-private investors to invest in apiculture. To obtainGovernment commitment, the apiculture community has to show that thesector can make significant contribution to the Government's efforts inreducing poverty. The starting point would be a study on apicultureproduction and consumption in Cameroon.

A study of this kind would provide guantitative evidence on the viability ofthe sector, and guidance as to how best to intervene for optimal resultsaddition, there is need for technical capacity building of practitioners irsector. This can be best achieved by the setting up of an apicultureresearch institute in the country. This could be an independent institute or asub department in any of Cameroon's science based research institutions.Furthermore dedicated micro-credit schemes targeted at beekeepersshould be established. This will help provide venture capital to groupssuch as ANCO and BDC who wish to diversify their product base. WhileAfrican countries such as Kenya have begun exporting honey, Cameroonremains a net importer of honey.REFERENCES

BIRDLIFE (2003) Birdlife and Cameroon Work to Protect Nation's Rich Biodiversity [online]http://www.birdlife.org/news/pr/2003/09/cameroonpas.html.

MINEFI (Ministry of Economy and Finance/World Bank) (2002) Living Conditions and PovertyProfile in Cameroon in 2001 - Final Results. Yaounde. Cameroon.

NDAM N.. HEALY J.R.. ACWORTH J.. TCHOUTO PG. (2000) Case Study: Biodiversity on MountCameroon. In: Forests in Sustainable Mountain Development: a state of knowledge Report for2000. IUFRO Research Series 5. CABI. Wallingford. UK.

NUESIRI E.O.. FOMBAD E.E. (2005) Report on Apiculture in the Cameroon Highlands. FOREPLimbe. Cameroon.

SUNDERLANDI, NDOYE 0. (2004) Forest Products. Livelihoods and Conservation-Casestudies of Non-Timber Forest Products Systems: Volume 2 -Africa. CIFOR. Bogor. Indonesia.

VABI M.B.. GARTLAN S.J. (1997) Institutional Framework for Biodiversity Conservation inCameroon. Proceedings of the Conference on African Rainforests and Conservation ofBiodiversity, http://www.earthwatch.org/europe/limbe/limbe.html

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