First Visit to Oku

   This week, Philip (Mocha Joes Director in Cameroon) and I traveled to Oku village. The journey took about 3 hours from Bamenda and takes you over two ridge lines, providing some breath taking views of the valleys below with steep green hillsides spotted with boulders and sheer cliffs. Oku village itself is situated in a horseshoe shaped valley with the open end facing east and Mount Oku (the second highest peak in Cameroon) situated to the south.

   Around the valley, houses and compounds are spread out with a few clusters of larger buildings where you can find shops to buy food, get a moto repaired, or recharge your credit. Above most of this is the largest market area, Elak, where you can find the bus station and plenty of commercial activity (even a cyber cafe, which I'll be making use of once I'm up there). While the highest parts of the valley are dominated by forests with an assortment of tree and shrub species that you don't find elsewhere in Cameroon, the rest is heavily cultivated with Irish potatoes, onions, maize, beans, bananas/plantains, taro, yam, etc. (pretty much standard field crops for Cameroon). Then there is the coffee. Much more coffee than I am used to seeing, especially from my time in the West Region. Coffee is planted throughout the valley; sometimes in small clusters and in a few cases in areas up to about one hectare. Generally, it is being grown under some kind of shade, but frequently that is only a small number of trees which may or may be well tended. Similarly, the coffee itself ranges from looking healthy, well-pruned, and the fields well cleared to a minority of fields looking neglected. Most fall somewhere in the middle, generally toward the better cared for side.

   Our work in the two and a half days we were in Oku was to meet with farmers groups in quarters across Oku and the neighboring village Mbessa. Philip and I managed to hold seven meetings with the help of our friend Kenneth (better known as the Cassman) and Gilbert organized several others in Mbessa on his own. In the end we were able to communicate with well over 100 coffee farmers. Our goals were to introduce ourselves (me for the first time, a re-introduction for Philip who has met many of these individuals as a representative for Mocha Joes and in his previous work in the coffee trade) and the organic program we want to initiate. The pitch we adopted highlighted the economic benefits a certified organic farmer could claim and the how the use of organic methods can protect the health of the farmer and consumer. We also stressed that every coffee farmer in the village is being invited to the program voluntarily, even if they are currently using fertilizers or other chemical and won't be certified 'organic' in this first year.

   The men and women who attended these meetings had many questions about the practicality of organic growing versus conventional. Philip and I did our best to explain that for any chemical or extensive growing strategy there is an effective organic alternative. In the end, most people seemed convinced that if they were not currently using any chemical inputs, it would be good for them to apply to the program and people who are using inputs thought it would be a good idea to enter some, but not all, of their fields into the program. Philip and I agreed that this would be a good course and a good way to 'hedge their bet' in trying organic growing.I am particularly happy that many farmers see splitting their fields as a way to protect themselves from a risky new idea because it shows that they have realistic expectations and do not expect the fields converted to organic to immediately out perform their other fields without additional investments of capital and labor.