Mt. Cameroon Communities Learn To Propagate Threatened Trees
Some six communities of the Mt. Cameroon area have been trained to nurse and plant fruiting threatened tree species with the technical help of the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF).
* By Asa’a Lemawah
Seed collection of fruiting threatened species was carried out together with community members of Bova I, Bomana, Bakingili, Bokwaoango, Mapanja and Bafia. Together with the community nursery attendants of Bomana, Bova I, Bafia and Bakingili the collected seeds were nursed at the community nurseries. Through this exercise the community nursery attendants and community members learned the methods of propagating the threatened tree species.
An inhabitant of Bokwaongo village, who accompanied the team to the forest was surprised when the giant African mahogany (Entandrophragma angolenses) commonly called Tiama was identified for seed collection. Njie Wilson confessed he did not know that the feather-like seeds were of mahogany. He recognised the tree no doubt, but had never attributed or taken note that the feather-like seeds were produced by the species.
Njie, who guided the team into the Bokwaongo forest for the seed collection, said he had used the mahogany seeds as a plaything when growing up given that its feather-like nature made it rotate upon dispersal from the mother tree.
“The seeds would fly down and it was an interesting thing to play with as a child,” Njie said.
He said he had never considered planting the seeds, but henceforth would endeavour to plant at least 50 of the species in his farm for his offspring.
In Bova I on the eastern slope of Mt. Cameroon, another inhabitant said he had believed that the seeds of the African mahogany could not be nursed but astoundingly he watched and learned the technical hints of seed collection, nursing, storage using local methods (wood ash to prevent insects from destroying) and planting.
Depending on the species, the planting method differs.
Isaac Eko, the community nursery attendant at Bomana, amazed at the propagation of the African mahogany from seeds said, “I thought that timber species like this could only be propagated from wildings.”
Hopefully together with these communities, the ERuDeF-Global Trees Campaign sponsored Mt. Cameroon Threatened Trees Projec,t will ensure the propagation of a viable population of threatened species which will be used to restore the degraded landscape of Mt. Cameroon Forest Area.
The Mt. Cameroon Threatened Trees project envisages restoring at least 10,000 seedlings of threatened tree species within the Mt. Cameroon area in the next two years.
* Asa’a Lemawah (Coordinator Mt. Cameroon Threatened Trees)
