FORET PROGRAM

Projet FARE | Cashew nut sector & ecosystem restoration in Cameroon

Background

La région du Nord Cameroun subit d’importantes pressions humaines et climatiques sur ses aires protégées, dont le Parc National de la Bénoué (PNB) et le parc du Faro. 

Il représente un enjeu important de conservation de la nature en Afrique Centrale. Constituée majoritairement d’écosystèmes de savanes soudano‐sahéliennes, cette zone est notamment connue pour abriter un nombre important d’espèces animales phares représentatives de ce type d’habitat : girafes, élands de Derby, hippopotames, crocodiles, etc. 

Le reboisement d’arbres à usages multiples, tel que la plantation d’anacardiers (arbres à noix de cajou), a été identifié localement comme pouvant contribuer à préserver et restaurer l’environnement de cette zone. 

Initié en mars 2019 le projet « Filière Anacarde et Restauration d’Ecosystèmes (FARE) » qui accompagne son partenaire, l’organisation de la société civile CERAF-Nord, dans la mise en œuvre d’un projet de reforestation d’anacardiers (arbres à noix de cajou), de restauration de corridors de migration de la faune sauvage et d’appui à la production et à l’entretien de vergers d’anacardiers en vue du développement de la filière, en faveur de populations riveraines du parc national de la Bénoué. 

Après une première phase du projet terminée en 2022, Planète Urgence et le CERAF Nord ont lancé une deuxième phase sur cinq ans. Celle-ci a pour objectif de continuer le projet déjà mené en mettant en place des systèmes agroforestiers sur les parcelles des bénéficiaires et en accompagnant les communautés locales dans le développement de la filière anacarde. De plus, le projet FARE ambitionne d’intervenir sur d’autres enjeux locaux comme la sensibilisation environnementale, les conflits agro-pastoraux, la gestion durable du bois de chauffe et l’appui aux parcs nationaux de la zone.

Objective

Support the restoration of degraded areas around the Bénoué National Park and increase the resilience of ecosystems and riparian communities, by reforesting multipurpose trees and supporting the emergence of the cashew sector. .

Activities

Three main axes: the restoration of degraded areas by the reforestation of cashew orchards on the outskirts of Bénoué National Park, capacity building of producers in the cashew sector in terms of techniques and monitoring of plantations and support them in their structuring of collective sales.

Restoration of ecosystems: participating in the restoration of degraded areas by the reforestation of cashew orchards on the outskirts of the Bénoué National Park is the central action of the project.

Local economic development: structuring of producer groups in the functional cashew nut sector, storage and stores set up for collective sale.

Awareness: train producers in the cashew sector on techniques for creating and maintaining nurseries, monitoring orchards and carrying out participatory discussions on the organization to be implemented to structure the players in this future sector.

Expected impact

- REFORESTATION OF PERIPHERAL ZONES OF THE PARK
Participating in the restoration of areas degraded by the reforestation of cashew orchards on the outskirts of Bénoué National Park is the central action of the project.

The intervention will consist of collaborating with the farmers mobilized within the targeted communities to set up community and individual nurseries, as well as reforest the cashew seedlings thus produced, while ensuring the protection of nurseries and plants orchards.

This will also involve concertation and awareness-rising actions. The beneficiaries will thus be equipped with the tools and knowledge that will in turn raise awareness among other members of their communities and future generations. The trees planted will promote the regeneration of natural corridors degraded until then by increasing human pressure (residents and migrants in search of cultivable land and housing) and consequently, the return of wildlife to these migration corridors which are supposed to ensure natural connectivity between the 3 national parks of the northern region.

The project will thus have a positive impact in terms of biodiversity protection and increased capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change, but also in terms of mitigation through carbon storage enable by ecosystem regeneration.

 
- ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE OF COMMUNITIES
Raise public awareness of the importance of reforestation and the diversification of income sources.

In order to promote the empowerment of communities, Planète Urgence and its partner wish to strengthen the capacities of producers in the cashew sector (in gestation) in terms of cultivation techniques and monitoring of plantations, and also subsequently to support their structuring.

Producers will ultimately have improved living conditions thanks to the income generated by the production and sale of cashew nuts. This will help to diversify and secure their livelihoods, particularly during lean periods when, in this Sudano-Sahelian region with only two annual seasons (dry and wet), harvests of traditional local crops are scarce.

In the longer term, the collaboration “Conservation of the Bénoué park – local associations – communities and villages – companies in the cashew sector” could generate the following impacts: reduction of anthropogenic pressure on the resources of the GNP (fauna and flora), creation of additional income for the communities, new processing activities for cashew tree products (juice made from cashew apples), etc.