The call was made by the research assistant of CIFOR during a one day sensitisation seminar.

The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), on wednesday held a training session to sensitise and inform the local population in the forest area of Ngoumou on how to judiciously harness and market non timber forest products(NTFP), to ensure sustainability. Named by the colonial administration in 1930 as the Ottotomo Forest Reserve, it comprises fourteen villages on both the Northern and Southern parts of the reserve. The increasing rate of demographic growth with the pressure exerted on the reserve for a livelihood is a call for concern. It is against this backdrop that CIFOR, working in collaboration with some local groups in the area, is seeking alternative means to diversify activities to reduce pressure on the forest. Until the year 2003, the forest was fully controlled by the government through ONADEF today known as ANAFOR, and some supporting organs like CIFOR's Adaptive Co-management programme and ATD(Association de terre et de développement), all of which withdrew due to the economic crisis. The absence of these organs let to free access by the local population into the reserve in search of their livelihood.

Speaking to the population, the research assistant Mr Abdon Awono said, non timber forest products are of socio-economic importance. He insisted that they can be used for health purposes in both domestic and industrial needs such as the construction of houses, their nutritional value and for economic uses as a source of income. As such, exploitation should be judiciously done to ensure availability in the future. According to Danielle Lema Ngono a researcher with CIFOR noted that in a research which they carried out, some of these products posses high protein content. It was found that a kilogramme of Njangsa, a non timber forest product contains more protein than a kilogramme of meat. Same with bush mango(Irvingia spp).

Awono further said that certain things should be taken into consideration to market these products if they are better organised so as to produce high quality and quanty. Thus, he said production should be in harmony with prices, promotion and advertisement should be done as well as the area and point of sale. In this light therefore, CIFOR intends to merge these groups to form a single body that will market the products. Presently, the farmers have cassava and palmtrees. CIFOR will seek ways to diversify these activities in collaboration with other NGOs in the area. One of the problems which the farmers are facing is the lack of farm land, considering the paradox of increasing living standards and sustainable management of the forest.