The achievements of the FORETS project, set up by the International Forestry Research Center (CIFOR), were at the center of a consultation framework held in Yalikandja-Yanonge, in the Yangambi landscape. This event brought together sector leaders, local authorities, members of development communities and other stakeholders from the region.
The objective of this meeting was to share experiences and results obtained thanks to good agricultural practices popularized by the FORETS project. Among these sustainable practices, we find agroforestry, crop rotation, crop association as well as the use of biopesticides and organic amendments to improve agricultural yields.
According to CIFOR, these practices have already yielded significant results. For example, the cassava harvest increased from 900 kg to 21,500 kg per hectare, that of maize from 700 kg to 1,200 kg per hectare, that of cowpea from 500 kg to 1,100 kg per hectare and that of rice from 900 kg per hectare. kg to 1,400 kg per hectare. To disseminate these improvements, the project organizes field days, sharing of experiences, local monitoring and sets up demonstration fields and farmer field schools.
Besides improving agricultural yields, the FORETS project also addresses other challenges, such as combating stinking locusts. It also encourages domestic bee breeding, with beekeepers in Yanonge managing to harvest 124 kg of honey this year.
The project also emphasizes environmental education through school orchards which generate income for targeted schools. It also supports community forestry, with obtaining titles for the Yainiongo community forest, and plans to support new volunteer communities.
Other sectors, such as timber, wood energy, fish farming and forest restoration, are also part of the FORETS project activities, with each sector presenting its specific results and challenges.
During this meeting, community leaders expressed their wish to extend the activities of the FORETS project to the four other groups in the Yalikandja-Yanonge sector, in addition to the three current beneficiary groups.
The FORETS project, carried out in the Yangambi landscape with the support of the European Union, thus contributes to the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, the preservation of the environment and the development of local communities in the region.