Forestry Development: Mbalmayo Wild Forestry Seed Bank Is Now Operational

In prelude to the takeoff of the Mbalmayo Wild Forestry Seed Bank, a five-day workshop for technical staff of the National Forestry Development Agency, ANAFOR, opened in Mbalmayo on the outskirts of Yaounde on Monday, June 13, 2022. The training is undertaken by the project’s technical partners - the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development, IRAD and the National Forestry School, NFS Mbalmayo.

Restoring, Expanding Forest Landscapes
Like many African countries, Cameroon faces the huge challenge of restoring and expanding its forest landscape. Which is handicapped by the scarcity of quality seeds and the absence of a database on ecological parameters such as the growth, mortality and reproduction of forest tree species, said Theophile Bekolo Bekolo, ANAFOR General Manager at the opening of the workshop.  

Meeting National Reforestation Targets
Cameroon has embarked on an ambitious plan to restore 40,000 hectares of forests per year over a period of 25 years as part of the National Forest Plantation Development Programme, PNDPF, Bekolo recalled. As well as to restore 12 million hectares of landscape and degraded land as part of AFR 100 Initiative, and reduce its carbon emissions by 32 per cent by 2030 as part of the Paris Agreement, amongst others. “For this to be effective, there is need for quality and quantitative genetic forestry material,” Bekolo underscored.

Quality Genetic Material To Meet Demand  
“Mbalmayo Wild Forestry Seed Bank is the response to a national problem. It will gather, store, study, conserve and distribute reproductive forestry material to satisfy public demand. The centre will rely on a wide network of wild forestry seed gatherers, a seed data base and the setting up of tree nurseries all over the country,” Bekolo explained. He added that the National Forest Plantation Development Programme was transferred to ANAFOR by government.

IRAD, NFS As Technical Partners 
“We have the technical support of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development and its National Herbarium; as well as the National Forestry School, Mbalmayo. Mbalmayo Wild Forestry Seed Bank is a major st...