With support from the Rufford Foundation in the last two years, we have partnered with four different village communities in the Kumbo Watershed to promote best agroforestry practices and support reforestation activities around degraded community water catchments. Over these years, farmers depended entirely on seeds from foreign provenances for agroforestry and reforestation activities. Most of these seeds usually reach farmers very late and in most cases have equally lost their viability due to phytosanitary restrictions and control at entry points. With these setbacks, a 10 hectares community agroforestry seed bank has been established and planted with about 4,000 multipurpose and fast growing tree seedlings belonging to 14 different species. A Community Agroforestry Seed Bank and Management Committee with members elected from the various project communities have been put in place as well.

The 12 months project will comprise capacity building of members of the management committee on the ecological conservation, protection and sustainable management of the seed bank. The transfer of skills necessary for the creation of sustainable forest-based enterprise for income generation through the development of a honey value chain to generate funds that will be used in the sustainable management of the seed bank shall be promoted amongst bee farmers already trained and supported during the previous intervention.