If you’d visited members of the Association pour le Développement Intégral des Exploitants Agricoles du Centre (ADEAC) five years ago, they’d have complained about the meagre prices they were getting for their ‘njansang’. This had nothing to do with lack of demand for these aromatic kernels, harvested from the tree Ricinodendron heudelotii: most households in Cameroon use njansang to prepare soups and other dishes. Today, you’ll hear a very different story from the ADEAC farmers involved in njansang production. They are now getting an average 31% more for the kernels, and because they’re harvesting more, they have seen an 80% increase in their revenues.

This change in fortunes can be largely attributed to an innovative marketing approach pioneered by the World Agroforestry Centre and its local partners. The Farmer Enterprise Development initiative, launched in 2003, helped smallholder farmers develop marketing skills, increase their on-farm production and improve their processing capacity. Over 400 njansang producers have benefited, along with some 250 farmers who harvest and trade kola nuts, which are popular stimulants in West Africa.

According to Charly Facheux, an economist with the World Agroforestry Centre, three distinct processes have enabled njansang and kola nut sellers to get higher prices. First, they have acted collectively to improve their bargaining power and gain a better understanding of the markets. Second, microfinance provided by the initiative during the first year meant that farmers were no longer forced to sell their crops when there was a glut and prices were low. By taking out small loans, they could meet their daily needs and wait until the market improved before selling their njansang and kola nuts.

Finally, the farmers benefited greatly from more efficient methods of processing. One of the problems with njansang is that the kernel is hard to crack, and it can take 10 women up to 25 days just to produce a 50kg bag. The introduction of a cracking machine, developed by engineer Moucha, working in collaboration with the Centre and with input from njansang farmers, has dramatically improved processing capacity. Now, it takes just two days to get a 50kg bag of njansang, and farmers from other parts of the region are coming to ADEAC to take advantage of the machine.

The stepwise approach pioneered by the Farmer Enterprise Development initiative is now being used for other agroforestry tree products elsewhere in the country. “With the right training, and access to microfinance and better processing facilities, farmers can dramatically increase their incomes from tree crops,” says Facheux.

Better prices, better lives
In Cameroon, the World Agroforestry Centre is probably best known for its work on participatory tree domestication, which has encouraged farmers to plant superior varieties of indigenous fruit trees like njansang, bush mango and African plum on their fields. During the past three years, the number of farmers taking part in domestication programmes has grown dramatically, thanks largely to the Agricultural and Tree Product Program managed by the Centre.

The programme has also focused on improving the marketing of tree crops and medicinal plants in the west and northwest regions. Like the Farmer Enterprise Development initiative, it has shown what a dramatic difference efficient processing can make to rural communities. Take, for example, the experience of a women’s selfhelp group in Bafut.

It used to take the women 72 hours to process raw cassava into ‘garri’, a popular food which looks like a finely ground breakfast cereal. Among other things, this involved the laborious use of a hand grater. “We had so many problems,” recalls Magdalene Sirri, the group’s secretary. “Some of us would get backache, and we frequently cut our hands with the grater. It also took so much time.”

In 2008, the income-generating activity officer with the Agricultural and Tree Products Program suggested to the women that they could increase their incomes, and save themselves a lot of effort, if they used a machine to process the cassava. They agreed, and the 35 members contributed 5000 CFA francs (USD 10) each towards the running of a processing machine that was donated by the project. Besides using it for their own cassava, the women are now operating as a business, processing cassava for farmers in the area. It now takes one day, not three, to make garri.

The machine has transformed the women’s lives. “I make more money in a shorter period of time,” says one woman, “and that means I can spend more time with my family.” Another says she can now buy better clothes and household goods, without having to ask her husband for money. One of the younger members no longer depends on her parents for pocket money. “Before, my family used to eat very simply,” adds Magdalene Sirri. “But now our diet is much better. I buy vegetables in abundance as well as beef and fish, something we could never afford in the past.”