Fru Ndi Man-makes Hard Wood Forest

Even as Cameroon’s forests continue a tailspin accelerated by logging and land-to-farm transformation, one man has not forgotten that he has lived off the forest and must by all means give back to the forest. Fru Ndi, who happens to be the leader of the main opposition political party (SDF) in Cameroon, has planted 3000 mahogany and iroko trees, 70.000 eucalyptuses and a wide variety of fruit trees on his farms dotted in the North West Region.
By Azore Opio
A short drive from Fru Ndi’s Ntarikon residence in Bamenda along the Bali highway, past the celebrated CPC Bali takes you to a small farm in Baba II. Of course, Fru Ndi doesn’t expect to enjoy the fruits of his reforestation labour as he would have to wait at least 70 years to harvest his young mahogany or iroko. Then he would be 140 years old!
Fru Ndi’s visionary approach seems to be underpinned by his determination to undertake genuine engagement with multiple and diverse projects of environmental, cultural and political sensitivity. His legacy of sustainable farming, even while he still lives, is there to be appreciated.
Roses, apples, avocado, kola nuts, sugar cane, pilchard, lime, some 15,000 planted raffia palms, ogbono and other assortments of plants adorn Fru Ndi’s Baba II farm.
The politician cum farmer doesn’t lack water as the hills surrounding him are fresh sources.  
A seed collector of sorts, Fru Ndi doesn’t throw away the seed of any fruit that tastes good on his palate.
“I once ate a pear in South Africa; it tasted so good I kept the seed and brought it over to Cameroon,” Fru told this reporter.
He has brought flowers from California and Switzerland and apple from Nso and planted them on his farm.
He quickly dons his political thinking cap and lashes out at African leaders.
“They talk a lot about climate change and its mitigation but they don’t tell you how many trees they have planted. Even if they have planted, there is no follow-up,” says Fru Ndi.
To make matters no better, the Ministry of Agriculture is not innovative and agriculture technicians are idle, he says.
He recalled that he hatched a programme with mayors that for every child born a tree had to be planted, “but they frustrated it.”
Fru Ndi has about five farms totalling some 200 hectares in Baba II, Bambui, Befang and Wum. The one in Mbu’uh Kesu village, Wum, is an orchard and pasture rolled into one. And that is where he has planted mahogany, iroko and eucalyptus.
“Only dull people argue against eucalyptus. If North West did not have eucalyptus, desertification would have already encroached into the region,” argues Fru Ndi.
The Mbu’uh Kesu farm is accessible by about five kilometres of earth road dug by Fru Ndi himself and stretches across three hills cleared and planted with grazing grass. Well fed cows, horses, sheep, goats, fowls, turkeys and geese live in that ‘Garden of Eden’ planted with four hectares of climbing beans, plums, grape fruits, mangoes, lemon, corn, plantain, njama njama and corn along with 180 beehives.
The SDF Chairman philosophises that God made the world beautiful but lazy man destroys it.
“I am doing all that I am doing so that the children coming after me can also enjoy the way I have,” Fru Ndi says.  
Fru Ndi’s farms also provide vacation jobs and research opportunities for hundreds of students every year and a welcome to curious travellers.