SPATH

In search of hope and external support most of these farmer groups were forging alliances and working in cooperatives. “We wanted to share and market our ideas, animals and food crops together” one optimistic farmer Tamasang Elias said. However these plans were only well articulated on paper because of the stagnation most of the legalized farming self help groups in the communities were experiencing. “Over burdened by the worries of the farmers and their hardship we were guiding them to apply for external funding and technical support on how to skip out of misery through farming” Sama Claris an Agric Extension workers in Santa Sub division explained. By good luck Heifer Project International (HPI) was already working in Cameroon. Some of these groups met them for help in any way. “We were assisting farmers in livestock development and care for the earth” Dr Njakoi Henry HPI country representative at the time said. According to the Heifer Staff, it was however a task to make local farmers accept integrated dairy cattle farming as a way to improve their livelihoods because the local farmers saw this as a thing of the Fulani pastoralist. “Successful dairy examples set in by some local farmers in the dairy project helped to changed this stereotypes” Dr Henry said. Gradually farmers were taught simple ways of pasture development for cattle, tree planting and integrated livestock management skills by HPI Cameroon with the support of some Government extension services. “We came in and supported the initiative by asking farmers to fence their livestock so as to use the waste in repairing their farm fields” Dr Aghari Walter of the North West Regional delegation of Livestock, fisheries and Animal industries in Bamenda remarked. Constant Education became a vital key in the empowerment of these farmers. “We started enjoying opportunities we never believed could came through animals”. Akumbom Godlove a peasant farmer at the Babanki community in the outskirt of Bamenda told this reporter.