IDA-AFRICA & SANAGA-YONG CHIMPANZEE RESCUE CENTER ​LAUNCH SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PROJECT TO PROTECT THE FOREST

To help decrease encroachment on the beautiful Mbargue Forest, we have launched a new sustainable agriculture project in the villages surrounding the forest. The goals of the project are to improve the diets of our rescued chimpanzees and the local children, while preserving the forest and engaging the local people in a program that they’re excited about. Engagement of the community is crucial for protecting the forest and its endangered wildlife. The heart of the agriculture project involves teaching farmers new techniques and providing assistance for planting new crops. The most important of several new crops we’re bringing to the community are soybeans and black-eyed peas, which are sources of dietary protein that add nitrogen back into the soil, thereby increasing the productivity of existing farmland. Less encroachment on the forest for subsistence agriculture will be a measure of the program’s success. In addition, the new sources of food and income will help insure that local residents need not rely on poaching for food or wildlife trafficking for income. A second phase of the project will involve planting along the periphery of the farms certain native forest trees that are desired for their fruit or bark, which will increase the value of any given farm plot.

Photo courtesy of Jacques Gillon