Nouhou Ndam and Mahop Tonye Marcelin 47
The majority of the exploitation is carried out in state forests; 90% of the
production takes place on state land, the rest on communal land, allowing for
less conflict among the population for access to this species. So far most of
the production is undertaken from wild populations and managed populations
in the natural environment of the production area. The drastic decrease of
the wild population because of overharvesting should be an incentive for more
emphasis on cultivation in order to meet the future demand for raw material.
Although Prunus planting is gaining ground in people’s habits around the
mountain, only about 20,000 seedlings have so far been planted in individual
farms within the framework of agroforestry practices. In addition to higher
levels of planting in the North West Province of Cameroon (Cunningham et al.
1997), some notable efforts have been undertaken by the industry (Plantecam)
in the field of artificial regeneration around the Mount Cameroon area. With
P. africana cultivated stands by the village surroundings, the balance sheet of
gender representation in the raw material production system could change in
the future, allowing more women to be involved in the production. Indeed, so
far 75% of men are reported to be involved in production in the raw material
production area, with around 25% of women participating mainly in the
cultivation aspect, when men have already carried the wildlings from the
forest to the farms.
In the year of data collection, although state intervention was increasing,
trade and marketing of P. africana products was also increasing because of
the nearby demand for raw materials by Plantecam trying to supply the powerful
production machines of its factory at Mutengene. The communities organised
in Harvesters Unions developed internal rules of sharing the outcomes from
Prunus activities. But it should be understood that it is the processing industries
and factories which benefit much from Prunus trade and marketing, considering
the price variation of 26% to 28% between raw material and end product at
the consumption stage. The laws in place unfortunately do not allow the
communities to fully participate and earn consistent benefits from the
exploitation and trade of P. africana products. Even the communities around
Mount Cameroon, which show their commitment to the sustainability of this
species, have serious constraints on their participation in Prunus trade and
marketing. But with even the little the communities can earn from their
involvement in these activities, it is clear that their means to satisfy their
needs have improved. The youths have learned enough about sustainable
exploitation and cultivation techniques. With these results from P. africana
alone, local communities have realised the high importance of forests resources
in poverty alleviation, and now the tendency is to get more involved in forest
production activities in general and the production-to-consumption system in
particular. Thus, the NTFP portfolio of communities around Mount Cameroon
is obviously not limited to P. africana, but integrates other forest resources
such as bush meat, eru (Gnetum spp.), bush onion (Afrostyrax spp.) and bush
mango (Irvingia spp.).
As far back as at the outset of the exploitation and trade of P. africana
products in Cameroon, international donors and processing industries have
been the main counterpart in conservation as well as exploitation activities.
Concerning exploitation, with the 1994 Forestry Law, more Cameroonians were03prunus.p65 47 22/12/2004, 11:04