Society

North Region: IRAD's RADiUS project drills farmers in Bawan on eco-friendly techniques.

Farmers carrying out practical sessions

Farmers' association representatives from Bawan, in the North Region, have been trained in new agroecological techniques of farming.
The training was carried out as part of the RADiUS project, a multi-actor agroecology research network designed to promote the sustainability of food systems in Cameroon.

The project is funded by the European Union. It is being implemented by the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development, IRAD.

The recent training initiative, led by the Director General of IRAD, Dr Noé Woin, involved a practical session where local farmers in the village of Banda were directly involved in planting crops like sorghum and cowpea alongside brachiaria and stylosanthes.

According to information made public by IRAD, the main objective is to produce more fodder on smaller plots of land, to reduce pressure on grazing areas, which in turn helps to preserve the local ecosystem.

The project is said to be part of a wider effort to combat climate change and reduce land degradation in the semi-arid region.

Experts from IRAD believe this participatory approach could become a model for reconciling the conservation of the biosphere with sustainable local development.

In addition to preserving the local ecosystem, this new fodder crop plot is intended to reduce the persistent conflicts among herders, farmers, and conservationists.

Participants appreciated this innovative practice, which aims to reconcile animal husbandry with environmental conservation and local development.

One of the participants, a manager of an agricultural cooperative in Lagdo, Abdoulaye, expressed gratitude to the project initiators. He noted that as a young cooperative that works in the management of transhumance, the training is directly in line with their area of intervention.

“In this activity, we are involved, among other things, in the cultivation of fodder crops. We run nurseries to reforest the transhumance corridors and also cultivate fodder sorghum. RADiUS is therefore a project that has come at just the right time,” Abdoulaye stated.

The RADiUS project, which focuses on a successful agroecological transition in West and Central Africa, is being implemented in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Cameroon.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3540 of Thursday August 21, 2025