Photo Source: FAO/ Glen Amungwa

FAO-backed initiative blends traditional knowledge with modern practices to build resilience in eastern Cameroon

In the dense equatorial forests of eastern Cameroon, the Baka people have for centuries depended on hunting, gathering and foraging. Today, climate shocks, environmental pressure and social upheaval are rapidly reshaping that way of life—forcing communities to seek new paths to survival.

Frequent droughts and floods, shrinking forest resources, economic instability, and the spillover of conflict from the neighboring Central African Republic have intensified food insecurity across the region. In Mayos village in Dimako district, home to nearly 600 Baka people, scarcity has become severe enough that families trek more than 50 kilometers into the forest in search of food, often pulling children out of school in the process.

“Today, we live from farming, but that wasn’t always the case,” says Dieudonné Noutcheguenou, a Baka elder. “Our parents lived from hunting, gathering and foraging.”

Building resilience through new livelihoods

Between April 2024 and June 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the Government of Cameroon and supported by World Bank funding, implemented the Emergency Project to Combat the Food Crisis in Cameroon (PULCCA). The initiative targets communities most affected by climate shocks, with a focus on Indigenous Peoples.

In Mayos, the project combined traditional ecological knowledge with modern agricultural techniques. Families received production kits including cassava and plantain cuttings, yam seedlings, poultry and small ruminants. More than 30 training sessions introduced climate-adapted farming and beekeeping practices.

FAO emphasized community ownership from the outset. Training and consultations were conducted in the Baka language, and community members play an active role in local monitoring committees to ensure interventions respect cultural practices.

“PULCCA is not only an emergency response,” says FAO Representative in Cameroon Antonio Querido. “It is a commitment to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities—especially Indigenous Peoples—so they become full actors in their own development.”

From forest dependence to local production

A farmer field school focused on cassava cultivation has become a shared learning hub where men and women test techniques and exchange ideas. Cassava, once scarce, is now grown locally, reducing the need for long and risky forest journeys.

Beekeeping has emerged as a particularly transformative activity. With training, protective equipment and modern hives, honey harvesting has become safer, more sustainable and profitable.

“Before, collecting honey meant cutting trees and long, uncertain trips,” says Angoula Nestor, a newly trained beekeeper. “Now we harvest clean, high-quality honey and earn enough to support our families.”

The additional income has helped improve household nutrition and school attendance—critical gains for a community at risk of losing both livelihoods and traditional knowledge.

For Mama Angelina Efouma, a grandmother in her seventies caring for ten grandchildren, the project has been nothing short of essential. “I’m still active. I know the land well. I plant cassava and macabo,” she says. “This project helps us enormously.”

Measurable impact, lasting change

So far, 374 people in Mayos have directly benefited from the initiative. Across eastern Cameroon, PULCCA has reached nearly 25,000 households in the departments of Lom-et-Djerem, Haut-Nyong, Boumba-et-Ngoko and Kadey.

For the Baka of Mayos, the shift toward farming and beekeeping is more than an economic adjustment—it is a step toward food sovereignty and dignity.

“This project allows us to produce for ourselves, without depending on others,” says elder Noutcheguenou. “Our children can eat at home and go to school more easily. It’s a real step forward for our village.”

To read the full story, click: https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/dwindling-abundance/en