Farmer-Grazier conflicts in the North West subsiding...

...thanks to MBOSCUDA commitment to peace.

Intermittent conflicts between farmers and graziers that gripped most parts of the North West Region of Cameroon in recent years appear gradually giving way to peaceful coexistence between the two groups.

The conflicts resulting from struggle over access to natural resources – including land and water, central to the lives and livelihoods of both groups most often left so many casualties.

In a move to end the clashes, the Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association, MBOSCUDA, North West, went partnering with an NGO in the United Kingdom – Village Aid, through a five years project “In Search of Common Ground” to help farmers and graziers in the region not to see themselves as enemies but as partners working to promote development.

With funding from a UK charity, Big Lottery Fund, the project that started in August 2013, targets alternative conflict resolution through capacity building, sustainable farming and grazing technique, as well as improved access to safe and clean water.

Programme coordinator of MBOSCUDA for the North West Sali Djanjo while on a visit to Boyo division yesterday Nov. 24th, to assess the project implemented in three communities in Fundong subdivision told stakeholders at the Fundong council that sensitisation, education and creation of dialogue platforms in target communities was paying off with drastic reduction of persistent conflicts.

Django told the Journal in Fundong, “we are happy that farmers and graziers are beginning to understand why they have to work together thanks to this project. If you look at the farmer grazier conflict in Wum that was persistent for decades, we have succeeded in restoring some level of peace between these two groups” he said.

Another major component of this project is alliance farming wherein crop farmers benefit from cattle manure to improve their yields and cattle breeders benefit from crop residue to feed their animals.

The “In Search of Common Ground” project being implemented in 23 communities in six out of the seven divisions of the North West Region end in 2018. Created in 1992, MBOSCUDA has as mission to promote the economic, social and cultural development of the Mbororo -Fulani communities in Cameroon.