Effective micro-organisms: The key to healthy soil and healthy diets in rural Fontem

Hello fans, welcome to Suzy Farms. Today we are going to share with you a story about Mrs. Nven, who successfully restore a healthy soil for healthy plants and healthy diet within her community. Kindly read till the end and share your own opinion in the comment section below.

 Mrs. Nven usually wakes early to prepare breakfast for her family of seven (7). After sending off the four younger children to school, she starts working in her vegetable garden. There she will harvest some vegetables like huckleberry, amaranth greens, leaves of fluted pumpkin and water leaves, then she proceed to the market where she sells them. When she return in the evening, she will pick some more vegetables to prepare food for the family dinner.  Although Mrs. Nven comes from a farming family, she hadn’t always worked with vegetables before. Her parents had exclusively cultivated cocoa, just like most other families in her village Takwei in Fontem. You may be shock to know that they have never enjoyed the product of the cocoa plants.  Cocoa is cultivated mostly for export to the West which makes them just bare labourers at the bottom of the business pyramid. So when Mrs. Nven finally married her husband Mr. Awung, she settled into a similar life: her husband grew mainly cocoa, and worked as a labourer in the off-seasons. But, because they were dependent on a single crop for sustenance, her family – just like the others – faced food shortages for 4-5 months of each year.

In 2016, Mrs. Nven started a vegetable garden, measuring 200 square meters. She hoped the family could save what they spent on buying fresh produce from the market and be assured of a varied and nutritious diet. But few vegetables flourished in the hard, red soil. Desperate not to lose the inputs and effort she had already invested, she drained her savings on chemical fertilizers. At first the chemicals seemed to work. The vegetables flourished. But gradually, she noticed that the soil was getting harder still, water would not drain, and the vegetables developed a strange bitter taste. Then, in 2020 she was advice to use effective microorganism which brings with it a unique approach: Effective Micro-organisms (EM) are specially cultivated bacteria that could condition the soil and manage pests. Though she was very skeptical when told, she finally decided to give it a try. 

She bought just 2 litter and begins by combining the EM mixture with fixed proportions of sugar, molasses and chopped-up vegetable waste. The mixture is sealed and stored, and the bacteria get to work, turning it into a rich, soupy compost. Once ready, the mixture is diluted and applied to vegetables or other crops. This activates the natural micro-organisms in the soil, conditioning it so other beneficial creatures, such as earthworms, can flourish. It also counts as a nature-based solution: a holistic approach to improving local conditions that promotes the well-being of people and the environment. Soon other farmers too were interested after seeing the result in her vegetable farm. They got a litter of EM and started adding it to their compost heap too.

Through a combination of trainings on her farm, visits to other sites, and connecting with other farmers, Mrs. Nven eagerly learned how to produce EM. She expanded her garden to 1000 square meters, devoting 100 square meters of it to a greenhouse where she could grow organic vegetables year-round. Since then Mrs. Nven garden has flourished. Same with most farmers in her community who have also learn to produce EM from scratch. Bingo, what a wonderful way to recycle waste into fertilizers to enhance beneficial soil microbes to restore soil nutrients for healthy plants, optimum yield and reduce pest. Yes, self-production of EM and no more buying of expensive chemicals resulted to low input and higher output. Isn’t this what every farmer of entrepreneur looks for? Low cost, high yield, high profit returns, poverty alleviation, food security, reduce malnutrition, community development, restoration of ecosystem, pollution reduction, etc.

“The quality of the soil is better,” she says. “There are more earthworms and fewer soil-borne pests. Weed growth has reduced, my vegetables grow faster and the soil has become rich and dark. I see ladybirds in my garden now, and I’ve noticed better drainage. More importantly, now we can keep the produce for a longer time.” Mrs. Nven plot is now an active community learning site. Farmers come, even from other villages, to learn how to replicate her successes.  “If used efficiently, EM can be a farmer’s friend, as it provides more nutrients and yield. This might seem rather a minor benefit to some but here, in remote rural areas, it is everything. It leads to improved nutrition, better incomes and sustainable living conditions for small-scale farmers.”

Indeed, agriculture is the main source of subsistence and livelihoods for the Bangwa clan. But these agricultural resources are also highly climate-sensitive, leaving the Nweh people with little capacity to adapt to the changing climate. Solutions like EM are therefore crucial to helping small-scale farmers build resilience and improve nutrition, livelihoods and soil health at the same time. We hope that, all rural farming households can benefit from the use of self-made EM application in their farms and bid goodbye to conventional fertilizers. There are many new effective technologies and techniques to improve their food and cash crops that we shall be sharing on this platform. Kindly like, share, subscribe to keep up with update.

Don’t forget to share your own opinion in the comment section below. We keep learning from each other and growing as a team. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if many farmers in rural areas especially in Sub-Sahara Africa were able to double their vegetable and crop yields without the use of chemical fertilizers? This will make the per-capita income of participating households to double, too. It is evident from the result as the production of vegetables for farmers using EM in their farms rose considerable while in non-participating villages, the volume and yield of these same crops registered a decline in production with little or no profit.

Mrs. Nven produces: Huckleberry, cabbage, lettuce, Amaranth greens, leek, chili pepper, garden egg, Koki bean, cucumber, water leaves, pumpkin, tomatoes and sweet bitter leaves. Her family eats well, and she has plenty to sell in the markets, where the quality and safety of her organic vegetables is well known. She can boost of a year round vegetable supply from her farm and greenhouse thanks to the application of EM. The days when the family spent part of the year short on food are now a distant memory.  This is what she had to say

“We can smell the freshness in the vegetables now,” she says. “When using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, we could not smell it – quite the opposite. And we can sell our produce all year round at a good price, even in the rainy season.” 

Watch the full video on Suzy Farms (youtube)

Companion planting: Three sisters & five sisters crops planting in Africa

 

Companion Planting: Three sisters and five sisters planting in Sub-Sahara Africa

Companion planting

Have you ever wondered why some crops produce more when planted together with certain plants? Just visualize a rural organic farmland with maize, beans and cocoyam (Ibo coco) planted together! The tons of harvest from this mixed farming will leave you puzzling. Yes, our ancestors farmed and harvested tons of food without any chemical input. And I wonder what happens now. The chemicals we keep applying in our farms have been polluting the soil, killing soil organisms, destroying our ecosystems and affecting our health. It is time we begin to understand the beneficial synergy between different plants so we can increase yield, control pests and diseases without applying external chemicals into our farmlands. Welcome to the world of companion planting.

Companion planting

Have you ever wondered why some crops produce more when planted together with certain plants? Just visualize rural organic farmland with maize, beans, and cocoyam (Ibo coco) planted together! The tons of harvest from this mixed farming will leave you puzzling. Yes, our ancestors farmed and harvested tons of food without any chemical input. And I wonder what happens now. The chemicals we keep applying in our farms have been polluting the soil, killing soil organisms, destroying our ecosystems and affecting our health. It is time we begin to understand the beneficial synergy between different plants so we can increase yield, control pests and diseases without applying external chemicals into our farmlands. Welcome to the world of companion planting.

So what really is companion planting?

Companion planting is the practice of growing different plants together so they can benefit from each other. Certain combinations of plants make each of them more productive. Why? Because some plants have a mutually beneficial relationship with complementary characteristics such as nutrient requirements, natural support, weed suppression, pest-repelling abilities amongst others.

A typical example of companion planting is the famous Three Sisters crop -where maize, beans and pumpkin or squash are planted together. This has been done in Sub-Sahara Africa for millennia. Today it is still the usual traditional practice within rural communities’ farmland in the tropics. These plants do complement each other and each of them does benefit from the union as they grow symbiotically to deter weeds and pests, enrich the soil fertility and support each other.

•         The tall corn provides support to the climbing beans, you can use any variety of corn – soft, pop, white, yellow, etc...
•        The fast-growing beans convert atmospheric nitrogen to soil nitrogen which fertilizes all the plants especially corn which requires a large quantity of nutrients. The beans also help to stabilize the maize during heavy wind.
•         The squash or pumpkin grows low and wide around the corn and beans. It shades the soil to prevent moisture loss. Its big leaves also suppress weeds and control pests and insects.  Bingo! 
•     What a wonderfully beneficial relationship. Please like comment and subscribe while we share information on how to plant the three sisters

How do we plant the three (3) sisters?

Note: In sub-Sahara Africa they are two planting seasons starting in March and September. So make sure you plant at the right time

• 1     Choose a sunny location with at least 6 hours of full sunlight every day
• 2     Clear the farm around January and allow the grass/shrub to dry and decompose for about 6-8 weeks before tillage.
• 3     Make sure you start tilling at the beginning of the planting season.
• 4     Fold the dried and decayed grass/shrubs in the middle of the furrow.
• 5    Prepare the soil with much organic matter, composted animal/farm manure and wood ash.
• 6     Hoe the soil on both sides of the furrow to cover up the decayed grass/shrub within the bed.
• 7     Make a bed about 0.5m wide, 20cm high and 4m long.  Inter-bed distance should be about 50cm.
• 8     Cut the pumpkin or squash open, remove the seeds and spread to dry under shade for 2 days. Get your maize seeds ready for planting.
• 9    Then plant your maize – 3 seeds per spot, 1m apart. Then plants 2 seeds of pumpkin between the maize.
• 10.  About 10 days later, you plant your beans, 2 seeds close to the corn.
• 11 Sit, relax and watch the 3 sisters do the magic. Nature has it all. 

 The three sisters provide both sustainable soil fertility as well as a healthy organic balanced diet. Experience has shown that the concept of 3 sisters crop can include even up to 4 or 5 crops. For the purpose of increasing food yield on a small piece of land, I will showcase how to plant up to 5 complimentary crops on raised beds in a planting season. For this, we shall be adding amaranth (Greens) and Cocoyam. This mixed planting increases biodiversity which attracts pollinators to enhance flowering, fruiting and food production.

Amaranth

·        The fourth sister (Amaranth – Greens) is included because it attracts pollinators, lures birds away from eating the maize and is also very nutritional. More pollinators imply more fruits and more yield.

Growing cocoyam

·        

    

Then the fifth sister which is cocoyam (ibo coco) is a staple food in sub-Sahara Africa and grows for about 5 months before harvesting tubers for food. So it will be the last crop to harvest before we prepare the soil again for the next planting season. It helps to control pests and suppresses weed.

 How to plant five (5) sister crops on raised beds in the tropics

• Make a bed about 1m wide, 30cm high (flat top and 4-6m long. Inter-bed distance should be at least 50cm.
• Cover your cocoyam on a dark wet area to sprout into seedlings
• Plant your cocoyam seedlings 20cm deep and 1m apart on both sides of the beds.
•  Plant your maize – 3 seeds between the planted cocoyam.
• Then plant 2 pumpkin seeds in a spot about 20cm close to the cocoyam
• Sparingly broadcast your amaranth seeds on the beds and level the bed by racking so some seeds are lightly covered.

• After 10 -14 days  you plant your beans 2 seeds just 10cm close to the maize 
• The seeds used for this type of sisters cropping should be organic seeds
• Direct the beans vines towards the nearest cornstalk as they grow. This allows it to climb upwards, rather than creep along the ground.
• Hoe as many beds as you can and weed regularly

1     Harvested in succession

1.     Amaranth can be harvested 7 weeks after planting. Use a sharp knife to cut the soft stem, leaving 2-3 nodes underneath for new shoots. You can harvest weekly for the next 2 months before it starts flowering.

2.     Pumpkin/squash soft stems and leaves can be harvested from the 8th week after planting. They spread out fast once the first meristematic tip is cut off. Harvesting too can continue for the next 3 months before fruiting. Don’t harvest too much if you are interested more in the pumpkin/squash fruits.

3.     The beans start flowering just 10 weeks after planting. Harvesting commences from the 14 weeks when the beans are matured for harvesting. This may continue for another 2 months.

4.     The maize is ready in about 16 weeks. After harvesting the maize, leave the stalk to dry up for another 2 weeks so you can continue harvesting the beans. After this, the production of the beans begins to reduce, then you cut the stalk to mulch the cocoyam and add some soil on the bed so the cocoyam can produce bigger tubers.

5.     At the end of 22 weeks, you start harvesting the cocoyam and pumpkin fruits. Get ready for another planting season starting in September.

Thinking time

Climate change has led to an increase in temperature which has resulted to drought that is negatively affecting crops production, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Question: What could you easily add as the 6^th sister crop to remedy this situation?  Explain your reasons… 2min to think and write your ideas below in the comment.

Watch the video on companion planting of our three or five sister groups here

We shall be uploading videos soon on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to our channel, like, comment and hit on the notification button to keep up with update. Like our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram and Twitter 

Continuous selective harvesting of soft stem vegetables to increase yield, reduce cost and labour

 

Continuous selective harvesting of soft stem vegetables to increase yield, maximize land use, reduce input cost and labour

The world demand for leafy vegetables growing on stalk or soft stems is rapidly growing. Despite the growing population, labour shortage has become a limiting factor for agricultural production and there is need to increase the amount of harvested vegetables at low labour input. One way to do this may be to consider harvesting the vegetable many times before it flowers and bear seeds. However, most western farmers have hardly explore this option of traditional selective harvesting that is geared towards increasing yield. This has left me pondering for a long time as I keep questioning myself …

Why do farmers harvest stalk leafy vegetables by uprooting them?

Ever since I traveled to the West, I have been wondering why farmers keep harvesting leafy vegetables by totally uprooting them. Once uprooted, the lifespan of the plants is over. Then they will nurse new seedlings again, tilled the soil, peg and plant afresh. What a waste of labour, time, inputs and harvest?

Rooted Amaranth (Green)

I grew up in Africa where I learned and practiced traditional farming practices from my grand-mums, parents and the entire community. Yes, we had a routine of going to the farm to cultivate our own vegetables and food crops every Saturday. A practice I enjoyed doing even after leaving the University of Buea and traveling to the West in 2003. In short, I am a proud farmer by birth and I don’t remember a year without growing my own organic food in my home garden. My family have been practicing subsistence farming and it is not by accident that I am passionate about farming.

How to harvest soft stem leafy vegetables

Most leafy vegetable grow on stalks that when harvested can develop new shoots from the remaining nodes on the stalk. In this case we harvest leaving about 2-4 nodes for new shoots to further develop, grow and spread out. Use a sharp knife and cut the vegetable just above 3 nodes on the rooted stalk. Within 4 days, you will see new lateral buds developing at the node. This may take about 10-14 days to fully grow into a broad leave stem vegetable ready for harvest.

So if you have a raised bed full with leafy vegetables, it is certain that all will not grow at the same rate, height or size. Normally these type of vegetables are usually planted closely (about 15-20 cm apart) to each other because only the vegetative growth is harvested as food. To ensure continuous harvest, you will need to employ the concept of selective harvesting.

Cut amaranth (Green)

Traditional selective harvesting practices

Selective harvesting is required for leafy vegetables that grow less homogeneously or are multi-annual. Selective vegetable harvesting allows us to harvest fresh vegetables weekly for a long period of time. Soft stem leafy vegetable like huckleberry (country njamajama), amaranths (green), bitter leaves and water leaves falls within this category. At Suzy-Farms we practice selective harvesting that enable us to harvest vegetables for about 2 months (at least 8 times) before they get mature. Once they are matured, they develop flowers and seeds. This is a sure indication that harvesting will soon come to a halt. But until then, these vegetables should be harvested by cutting the soft stem with a sharp knife. 

Within the bed of closely planted leafy vegetable, first harvest only the big matured ones. All small shoots vegetables should not be harvested. Leave these small ones to take advantage of the space created after the first harvest to further develop, spread out and growth bigger. Within a week, they must have grown bigger, matured and ready for harvest. At the same time the node left on the stems after the first harvest should have also developed young growing shoots. So by the time you carry out the second selective harvesting, this young shoots will also get enough space now to develop. This cycle may continue for 3 months with continues weekly harvesting. Please watch this video to understand how it works… Seeing is believing and believing is practicing. Click on our
youtube channel to watch how it is done in our home garden.

Bounty harvest of cut Amaranth from flower beds (companion planting)

Please make sure you grow organic, eat organic and live a healthy lifestyle. We live just ones! Don’t mess your life with unhealthy food. Start your own backyard garden as soon as possible so we can keep sharing information and good experiences. Grow your own food whenever possible and avoid frozen vegetable as much as you can. You can enhance your soil health by increasing the soil organic matter and also by practicing companion planting with beneficial synergies. This will also help to reduce pest and diseases while enhancing production. Please, make sure you harvest, cook and eat same day if possible. They are lots of vitamins and minerals in vegetables to nourish the body. These nutrients begins to reduce gradually from 8 hours after harvesting. Let your labour not go in vein. Harvest just when you are ready to prepare and eat. Watch this video here!!! 

Our Slogan: From Farm to Table. Yes! Let’s do it.  Experience it and share your story with us. Bingo!!! Those without gardens could buy fresh vegetables from organic stores or from your usual shop. However, stay away from frozen vegetable.

We shall be uploading videos soon on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to our channel, like, comment and hit on the notification button to keep up with update. Like our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram and Twitter 

Companion plants for fruit trees/plants

Companion planting for disease resistant and increase harvest 

A fruit tree guild is a technique of supporting a central element (fruit tree) with a group of plants that are highly useful and multifunctional, with mutual beneficial synergies to ensure a disease-resistant fruit tree with maximum harvest and use of space. Guilds provide a roadmap for developing interconnected ecosystems to reduce labor, cost and increase harvest. This companion planting is a holistic approach and an integral part of permaculture which allows 2 or more crops to be planted together in order to maximize productivity (yield per unit area), nutrients intake, support, space usage, pest control, pollination, biodiversity or attract beneficial insects and/or organisms. Companion planting is a traditional practical planting method covering various strategies that increase plants' biodiversity in the soil and the ecosystem. Plants diversity increases insect diversity and decreases the number of pest in the farm. Most large scale farmers practice a single crops planting system called mono-cropping. This may looks easier to water and care for, but it will need lots of chemicals to control the pests. For example, if you plant only tomatoes, hornworms will be attracted to the farm. But if you plant lettuce along with tomatoes, the tomatoes will provide shade to the lettuce while the lettuce will repel the tomato pests. Bingo!!!  

Daffodils as companion plant for fruit tree

Pollination is a very essential element for fruit formation. All fruits trees should have some pollinator plants growing close to the fruit trees such as flowers and herbs that attract insects to aid pollination. An increase in pollination results to an increase in fruits harvest. Below is a list of some of our favorite companion plants for fruit trees/plants: 

1. Nitrogen fixing plants such as groundnuts, beans, cowpeas and soya beans are beneficial to all fruits plants/trees because they fertilizes the soil and could be planted close to any fruits tree/plant. 

 2. Comfrey is also a wonderful companion to fruits trees/plants because it accumulates calcium, phosphorous and potassium that fertilize plants/trees. It is also a good compost activator.  

 3. Chive repels worms, flies, aphids, mites and nematodes.

4. Lemon balm is a great companion plants because it draws bees that help with pollination and consequently increase yield of fruits. 

5. Stinging nettle sprays are rich in silica and calcium that is use to stimulate growth in plants/trees. 

6. Mint and marigold are very good to repel undesirable pests. Plant at the edge where you can control it as it can become invasive.

7. Marjoram is easy to grow and helps to improve the flavor of many fruits.

8. Lemon grass is good as a border crop to frame vegetables and herbs. 

9. Alfalfa improves nitrogen, iron, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium which are beneficial to enrich soils around fruit trees/plants.

10. Red acalypha and Tithonia plants repel nematodes  commonly known as 'panama' in plantains/banana. 

11. Basil improves fruits flavor and repels bugs especially mosquitoes. 

12. Pumpkin keeps away harmful pest.

13. Daffodil or garlic repels wildlife and fruit tree borer.

14. White clover is a good source of nitrogen which is essential for healthy fruit production.

15. Calendula is useful in repelling undesirable insect, but attract beneficial ones. It also protects and enrich soil nutrients.

Melon and Calendula plants 

Below are some few fruits trees that could be planted close to other plants to provide mutual beneficial synergies: 

Fruits trees - Good companions and bad companions 

1. Avocado (African pear):- Soya beans, cowpeas, groundnuts, comfrey
2. Banana or Plantains:- Beans, legumes, papaya, sweet potatoes, legumes, comfrey, flowers. Avoid cassava competition for potassium
3. Citrus e.g orange, tangerine, lemon: - Beans, basil, oregano, clover, peas. Avoid maize, sweet potatoes, cowpea, sorghum
4. Papaya (pawpaw):- Comfrey, beans, flowers, banana sweet potatoes
5. Passion fruits: - Irish potatoes, beets, carrots, spinach, strawberries, onions, leeks, lettuce. Avoid corn, sorghum, okro, cowpea
6. Melon:- Corn, pumpkin, oregano. Avoid peas and beans
7. Apples:- Garlic, leeks, marigold, comfrey, daffodils. Avoid tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, eggplant
8. Mangoes:- Marigold, comfrey, lemon balm, dandelions, daffodils. Avoid fungal prune plants
9. African butter (Plums):- Marigold, comfrey, lemon balm, dandelions, daffodils
10. Grapes:- Basil, beans, oregano, clover, peas. Avoid garlic and cabbage
11. Pomegranate:- Basil, thyme and flowers. Avoid fennel, celery, eggplant
12. Apricot:- Chives, garlic, leeks, comfrey, basil, daffodils. Avoid pepper, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant
13. Coffee / cocoa:- Potatoes, kale, beans, coconuts. Avoid pumpkin, carrots, cucumber
14. Kolanut / Guava:-  Beans, peas, marigold
15. Kiwi:- Carrots, spinach. Avoid eggplant
16. Figs:- Dandelions, marigold, lemon balm. Avoid eggplant
17. Pineapples:- Daffodils, clover, chives, garlic
18. Tea:- Beans, potatoes, peas. Avoid walnut

Typical fruit tree guild

Companion planting saves cost on pesticides and fertilizers because pests are greatly reduced and the soil is fertilized. I grew up harvesting tons of food from the farm without fertilizers, herbicides nor pesticide applications and I wonder what happens now!!! Have you ever wonder why maize harvested from a maize/beans farm is tastier than that harvested from only maize farm? Try companion cropping and experience harvesting healthier fruits at very low cost. Let’s embrace traditional planting methods and save our soil, water systems and our health. We live just ones, don’t mess it up with unhealthy food. 

Follow this links to learn more about improving the biodiversity of your farm, reducing maintenance, and increasing yield through permaculture. If you wish to live the change, then click here

Learn more about pollinators here

Remember to try your own experiments and share your experience with us. Create your own fruit tree guilds even in your garden or backyard and feedback. Let’s know what works for you. Let’s do it…!

1. Make a list of what you need in your own garden 

2. List out all the elements you’ll need to meet the above needs.

3. Brainstorm the needs and benefits of each element, and note down how they can benefit from each other.

4. Place the elements in a way that maximize the beneficial relationships among them.

5. Share your experiences with us, we would love to hear from you.

Do you have any question about companion planting?

Write them out in the comment section, because I’d love to answer them below....

We shall be uploading videos soon on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to our channel, like, comment and hit on the notification button to keep up with update. Like our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram and Twitter 

About Suzy-Farms Corp

History of Suzy-Farms Corp

Field Survey Oct. 2013 (Dr. Nvenakeng Suzanne Awung)

We are grateful for the opportunity to have met and worked with 41 local communities around Mount Cameroon National Park (MCNP) during our research field survey from October to December 2013. Our project was focus on assessing the level of community involvement in the MCNP REDD+ conservation projects. Results showed that food insecurity, malnutrition, land grabbing and poverty were some of the factors preventing full community engagement in MCNP interventions. Providing alternative livelihoods to generate new income streams (animal husbandry and aquaculture) and inter-spacing fruit trees in crop farms were highly recommended to enhance food security and local adaptive capacity to climate change threats. Our research will be useless if we cannot lead the changes recommended in our own publications. Suzy-Farms agri-aqua inclusive business is aim at addressing these issues of food insecurity, poverty, malnutrition, well-being, employment and provision of alternative livelihoods to enhance local adaptive capacity to climate change threats and engagement in conservation initiatives.

Executive summary

Suzy-Farms LTD is an inclusive agri-aqua corporation situated in Bonduma, Buea, Cameroon. It is involved in the primary, secondary and tertiary production and transformation of agri-aqua products or various types, investment and development or farming and breeding techniques to encourage agri-business. This is aimed at improving community resilience to food insecurity, poverty and climate change threats. We nurse and grow crops and fruit trees like mangoes, paw-paw, oranges, avocadoes, quavers and plums to enhance nutrition. We also breed and rear fishes, birds and animals such as broilers, layers, catfish, tilapia, pigs, goats and rabbits; and supply the market at a competitive price and make profit. We also produce animal feed and add more value to our products by processing them to meet our customer’s desire. Local farmers are train in animal husbandry and aqua-culture to provide alternative livelihood, generate income, eradicate poverty and improve their well-being. Our business plan is executed by our skilled management team of less than 50 workers.

Problem statement

Climate change, population growth and land grabbing for large scale projects have increased the level of food insecurity in Cameroon. The government also banned the importation of chicken in 2005 and this led to further shortages of animal protein. The mostly cereal-based diet is also deficient in proteins and often leads to malnutrition. To address these issues, Suzy-Farms engages in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery.

Mission

Suzy-Farms seeks to become an inclusive leading provider of food in Cameroon and most especially in the South West Region. This will be accomplished by selling our products (meat, fish, eggs and fruits) at a competitive price while exceeding customer’s satisfaction. We aim at addressing socio-economic and environmental challenges within our communities.

Objectives

Our objectives are to;
·    Enhance food security as leading provider of fruits, vegetables, food crops, chicks, fingerlings, catfishes, tilapias, chicken, eggs, pigs, goats and rabbits in Cameroon.
·   Include low income groups along our value chain by integrating local farmers as producers, consumers, distributors and employees in our venture.
·    Alleviate poverty by generating profit for multiple stakeholders along our value chain through the provision of new income streams for local farmers.
·   Create an enabling ecosystems around our business to ensure economic viability and sustainability of our venture by sharing knowledge and technology with local farmers.
·  Enhance community’s adaptive capacity to climate change through the provision of alternative livelihoods for local farmers.
·     Deliver an innovative and effective end-to-end business model to alleviate poverty and enhance viability, social impact and scale potential of our venture.

Keys to success

Suzy-Farms adheres to four instrumental keys to success

• Strict financial control to maximize our production efficiency.
• Putting the need of our customers at the core of our value proposition. Our low production cost is easy to adapt and has a higher impact on the low-income group.
• Optimum health of our animals and birds (vaccines, medication, feed quality, aerated housing) to ensure a low mortality rate.
• Our 100% customer satisfaction philosophy ensures that our customers’ needs are met on time at their satisfaction to enhance our business profitability.

Business model

Bomana community participants

Our business model is design to create, deliver and capture values for our customers. Our proximity design enables us to work directly with our customers, listen to their challenges and develop our products and services from their perspectives. This will generate a mutual and trustworthy relationship. We seek to understand the challenges of our customers (end-user insight) and provide services that allow local farmers to pool their resources together, learn from experts, exchange best practices and effectively market their product (functional benefit). Local farmers are included in the value chain and their capacity are continuously enhanced to enable them grow as entrepreneurs (emotional benefit). We provide a win-win situation by empowering local farmers to become more entrepreneurial and continue expanding their business while using our services and products (reason to believe).  Thereby, enabling our entrepreneurship more desirable, profitable, impactful and more viable than traditional employment (key payoff/tagline). Low-income groups are often the most costly customers to serve because they often live in remote areas with irregular cash flows. Our innovative business model generates new income streams for them and deliver high quality product to low-income consumers through barter trade system. 

Our Products and Services

We breed/rear layer hens, broilers, local fowls and ducks in deep litter system, battery cages and free range; breed and rear pigs, goats, rabbits, snails, tilapias and catfishes; nurse and grow fruits, vegetables and food crops and also train local farmers. “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” Local farmers work in our farms during their six weeks training period without payment, thereby ‘learning by doing’. This is a win-win approach for both the business and the farmers. Some will be retained as employees and others will become local entrepreneur in their communities.

Revenue streams

Suzy-Farms has twelve main revenue streams (chicks, fingerlings, meat, fish, eggs, animal feed, farm equipment, fruits, vegetables, food crops, processed and cooked food.) and four main customers groups to whom we sell our products. Local entrepreneurs, retailers/supermarkets, hotels/restaurant and the general public are attractive customers due to their consistent demand in these products.

•    Local entrepreneur – We supply them with chicks, fingerlings, animal feed and farm equipment. They also buy our meat, fish and eggs for consumption and/or sell to the end consumer and make extra profit for themselves.
• · Retailers – these are mostly supermarkets and small shops owner who purchase our products for retail. They are the main distributors for our products.
• ·  Hotels and restaurants – They buy our products, cooked them and sell to end consumers.
• ·  The general public – Our customers buy directly at farm gate, shops and open markets.

Target population

•  We target to include the rural population in Cameroon as producer, consumers, distributors and employees. 
•  Supply our customers with products at a competitive price.
•  Train about 25 local farmers in animal husbandry and/or aqua-culture each year.

Competitive edge

Our venture has local competitors and external competitors practicing backyard poultry, piggery, goats rearing and feed production. There is no local competitor in aquaculture in Buea. About 20% of these competitors have good technical skills in farm management. More than 80% of them self-managed their farms and about 40% prefer administering vaccination themselves. Most poultry farms rear between 50 - 500 birds and sell at the local markets. The buying patterns of different customers are often based on the price, availability, consistent delivery and health of the animals/fish. Our competitive edge is our ability to consistently produce healthy products at a competitive price. Our competitive advantages are the high level of technical skills, large scale production, low mortality rate and new market accessibility. Our employees are made up of specialists in animal-husbandry/fishery, financial manager, sales agents, and trained employees to ensure effective and efficient management of our farms. Our sale strategy seeks to become a stable supplier to customers that need a steady supply streams.
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Environmental and social-economic impacts

Our venture involves low-income groups (local farmers) as consumers, producers, distributors and employees. We target local communities and focus on enhancing local livelihoods, well-being, food security, poverty alleviation and climate change adaptability. We train local farmers on animal-husbandry and aquaculture, and encourage them to plant fruit trees in their crop farms to enhance biodiversity and increase food yield per unit area of land.

This inclusive agri-aqua business venture provides socio-economic benefits to communities by providing local employment, food security, alternative livelihoods, better nutrition, well-being and health. Local entrepreneurs will generate new income streams to alleviate poverty. Education will be enhanced as parents are able to make money and pay for school fees and healthcare of their family.  The emergence of alternative livelihood will enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change threats, reduce vulnerability, restores ecosystems and biodiversity as their dependence on the forest will keep reducing gradually, and provide commercial returns. All these are geared towards meeting up with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the National Adaptation Plan. 

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Conclusion

Poultry meat, eggs, fish and small animals are the most consumed animal protein in Cameroon. Animal husbandry and aquaculture are also very lucrative because of the favourable climate, good temperature (24°C – 30°C), low cost of heating, water availability, high demand and cultural acceptability. By selling our products and sharing our knowledge on climate-change resilient agriculture, we join local farmers to enhance food supply, improve their livelihoods, generate income and eradicate poverty. A combination of local and modern agro-techniques, and livestock rearing have the potential to substantially increase food productivity and feed the growing population. We can use our passion and enthusiasm to lift others on our way up and ensure food for all by 2030.