38 ‘Chop, but no broke pot’: the case of Prunus Africana on Mount Cameroon
building materials, of firewood and of wood for making tools and carvings
(Hall et al. 2000).
In the Mount Cameroon region, the species is not only exported to Europe
as a medicinal plant product, but the bark is also widely used traditionally as
local medicine and the wood for hoe handles and timber. The species is
distributed on the main forest massif in patches ranging from 700 m to 3,000
m altitude (Achoundong 1995; ONADEF unpublished report). The area has
300,000 inhabitants distributed in 51 villages with an annual population growth
rate of 3% to 6%. These communities have been aware of the commercial
value of P. africana since the early 1970s. Since then, the benefit from the
species has gradually become the driving force for rural development of the
region and livelihoods improvement (Ndam and Ewusi 2000).(Prunus africana)According to an unpublished report to the World Wildlife Fund–Cameroon,
the benefit sharing system put in place after the formation of the Mapanja
Prunus Harvesters Union has been a good promoter for the sustainable community
based organisation. For example, income following nine months of the union’s
functioning in 1998 amounted to US$35,700 (25 million CFA), of which US$2,260
(1.58 million CFA) went to the village development fund, US$1,530 (1.07 million
CFA) covered the group’s running costs and the balance of US$32,925 (22.35
million CFA) was shared among the 60 harvesters according to their output
(Ndam and Ewusi 2000). The impact of the income improvement through Prunus
activities can easily be noted by the contribution of the village to certain pending
development projects like water and electrification projects. In addition, there
have been significant individual livelihood improvements, notably in increased
house construction in the village, a surge in formal marriages and a greater03prunus.p65 38 22/12/2004, 11:04