Small holder farmers at Nlonako Muanenguba mountains gain capacity on composting
sixteen (16) farmers within the Nlonako Muanenguba landscape have been trained on composting as a sustainable means of coping with food insecurity and climate change. The training that took place On November 17 to November 20,2020 aimed at strengthening the local populations within the landscape, to adopt environmental friendly agricultural practices through composting. The onsite training session took place at different farmers’ fields at Ebone, Quartier Bagante and Bayou, adjacent villages to Mt. Nlonako. The training was led by the ERuDeF Forest Garden Technician.
Farmers acknowledged the richness of the exercise and expressed gratitude to ERuDeF and partners.” I use inorganic fertilizer in my farm every year without having an idea of the future effect of inorganic farming practices to the soil, quality of agricultural commodity and health. I’m thankful to ERuDeF for this training and I must create compost pits in my farm every year”, Says Blais Yomi of Bagante village.
The communities got more excited as all steps of establishing compost were explained to them, giving the importance at each stage, material use and nutrient content level.
“The training will help me boost up my agricultural production without spending the kind of money I always spend on chemical fertilizer” Esoh Epoh said. He added that last July, he bought a bag of chemical fertilizer for 17000XAF and applied to his maize farm but has been disappointed with the yields.
The training aligns with the goal of the department of Agriculture ‘to improve food security and incomes of small holder farmers through the restoration of degraded agricultural landscapes. The compost seminar came up as part of the sustainable ways for small-scale farmers to adopt organic farming systems for, farm productivity, soil nutrient enrichment, maximization of use of locally derived products and minimization of use of external resources. By so doing, environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation will be enhanced.
