What Would You Change?

This isn’t a travelogue, but I have to mention that I took a hike with Cassman up to the top of Mt. Oku, where he keeps his sheep. So two weeks, two major touristic attractions. Check. Again, beautiful. As you walk from the village up the mountain you go from fields of maize into the same weird forest that surrounds the lake, through a (non-native) copse of bamboo, and finally come out on the other side of the forest where goats and sheep are left to pasture in large fields of grass and herbs. The question of how natural is this pasture is beyond me. It is about 3000m above sea level (which is not above the tree line) and the borders of the forest seem decidedly man defined; on the other hand, the grasses and herbs that the sheep and goats are chomping on mostly seem to be native, particularly the most dominant which is called Clouds of Kilum. You can find this plant all over Oku, but up on the mountain it bunches into thick carpets and takes on a prominent white hairiness. The fact that it clumps this way in the midst of hungry goats and sheep would suggest it isn’t very palatable, at least not as the stems mature.

The real point of this post is to explain a conversation I had while on the mountain. We were sleeping in a hut owned by a friend of Cassman’s, an older man who also runs a fairly busy shop in Oku’s main market. The hut is a one room affair (3 x 3 meters maybe?) with two beds/platforms for sleeping, a fire pit in the center of the room, and all the essentials for cooking or keeping water handy. We passed two nights there, keeping a fire going through the night to stay warm. Personally, the smoke from a cooking fire in this sort of situation drives me crazy. Maybe people develop a tolerance for it, but I certainly haven’t and after a few minutes my eyes and throat sting like hell. In the general consciousness of Oku there is no tie between smoke inhalation and respiratory problems (a friend of mine was shocked when a doctor told him to keep his daughter out of the fire kitchen for a while after she was diagnosed with pneumonia); sitting around a fire in a closed space without a good chimney is a part of life that goes back as far as anyone cares to consider.

Anyway, I had a complaint I’d have been willing to offer if anyone had asked me. Now, I’m not a pansy, so I wasn’t about to ask anyone to turn the fire down, but it was on my mind as I crouched on one of the bed/platforms trying to stay as low as possible without getting on the floor. Then, Cassman’s friend says to me, ‘So now you see how we are suffering here?’ This is a fairly common phrase in the North West Region. Pass someone at work in their field and ask how they are and they might say, ‘Well you see how we are suffering.’ Frequent deaths give plenty of occasions to point out the suffering in the world. It is as usual to hear the statement directed at a foreigner as a local. An American friend of mine suggested that (like many English words when they are used here) ‘suffering’ takes on a big range of connotations borrowed from nearby synonyms that aren’t so popular. These span from what someone might call ‘roughing it’ in the US to actual physical pain due to illness, so what seems like a pretty melodramatic statement to me isn’t nearly so fraught when it comes from an Oku man. (Let me put the semantic rant aside now)

In any case, whether this guy was suffering from small pox or felt a bit of a draught, I keyed into the statement (largely because it was the first thing said in English in about 20 minutes of Oku conversation). How do you respond to a statement of suffering? It feels kind of tricky. You can try to be sympathetic, empathetic, or apologetic; you could contradict the guy and point out that we just have plenty of food, a warm fire, and sheep outside that can be sold in the market; you can be helpful and offer assistance; you could be a one-upper and talk about how cold it gets in Ithaca in January. I don’t like any of that. I started a kind of game: I asked the guy, if he could change one thing about the way we were living at that moment, what would he change? Unlimited money, unlimited time. It took a little time to get my point across and even then the man was very hesitant to give an answer. I offered suggestions like electric lights, mattresses for the beds, a gas stove, a chimney (this is my vote, by the by) but in the end the man settled on wanting to have cows instead of goats out in the pasture. That was pretty unexpected. Leaving the economics of grazing animals aside (cows are more valuable than goats on a per head basis, but I can’t guarantee their more profitable on a small scale), when he said he was suffering, he was definitely referring to what was going on inside the hut, what I had wanted to find out was, which part of the experience did he find to be uncomfortable and how could we change it? But I was left wanting. (Again, for me, smoke + eyes – chimney = suffering; a pretty simple equation to balance).

On the way down the mountain the next day, Cassman and I spent some time talking about the question of ‘what would you change?’ and his friend’s answer. Cassman was a little preoccupied by the man having asked me the question at all, seeing it as kind of rude, but we eventually got to how life could be made more pleasant (key word – not better or [god forbid] more developed, just more pleasant). Here’s the thing, these guys enjoy living in these huts, having their fire going, and knowing that their animals are outside eating, growing, and making babies. As I said, suffering might just mean ‘roughing it’ and there’s a lot to be said for the simple life. But I know that Cassman enjoys comfortable things sometimes: he just recently built himself a new fire kitchen (still mud brick, but two rooms and a tin roof now) and he really enjoys it and I know that as soon as electric lines come to his side of Oku he’ll be one of the first in line to get a connection. So I pushed him on it, I needed a response, and eventually he admitted he wouldn’t mind a solar charger so that he could charge his phone, a light, and a radio.

There’s a lot going on in these conversations: economics, semantics, stranger v. autochthone dynamics, maybe a little pride. Also, imagination. I can’t picture an American being taken aback by the question ‘what would you change?’ Here in Cameroon, most of the American’s I know start a pretty extensive list of things they would change given half a chance from the moment they get off the plane (usually before leaving the US actually) and they would have similar lists where ever they were living. There are some local people who could answer this question easily and these people tend to be local leaders; not a coincidence. It’s fine, probably even normal, to be a little dissatisfied with life but when you find yourself suffering, try to at least know why and imagine how to change it.

I have got to get out more

Even just out of Jikijem (the mini-village within the macro-village that is Oku, I could explain that better, but not now). I had two visitors this past weekend and on Sunday we took a nice stroll up to Lake Oku. Beautiful. I am without a camera right now, so no pictures unfortunately, but if you have ever been to a mountain crater lake before you’ll kind of get the gist. Couple that with a weirdly beautiful forest surrounding the lake full of trees and vegetation unlike anywhere else on the planet. That’s a literal statement. The forest around the lake, called Ijim Forest or Kilum/Ijim Mountain Reserve is home to a whole slew of unique plant and animal life that are kind of trapped in this high elevation island surrounded by low-lands they aren’t adapted for and that cut them off from other high elevation environments.

Insanely, I hadn’t visited the lake before two days ago. Granted, on the way into Oku you drive past the lake and get a nice/fleeting view of it, but that doesn’t really count. Apparently it is only a 90-minute hike up at a good clip. Once you get to the area, you have to work your way down a slick trail that is a bit tricky, so wear good shoes. At the bottom of that trail is a small sitting area with a bench (that is one bench) and a great view of the lake’s surface. I was apparently given bad information about the restrictions on accessing the lake and thought that we were prohibited from touching the water, but then two local guys who were collecting some water to make their medicine, and they told us it was a different day of the week that the restriction held. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if I asked 8 people and got 8 answers on that question (remember, the traditional week is 8 days long).

That day kind of told me that I have got to do a little more site seeing while I’m here in Cameroon. That probably means getting to other parts of the country (nowhere where there are vipers though; seriously, I think I would have a breakdown if I was faced with a viper hanging down from a tree on a path I was walking) which takes some degree of commitment/planning/taking time away from work, none of which I’m particularly good at (not that I’m a workaholic, just that I’ve never gotten beyond the feeling that when I’m away from work it is all going to fall apart). Having visitors helps. It kind of forces you to be a good host, and since that were my third visitors in a year it isn’t too much of a distraction (though if the word gets out about how pretty that lake and forest are, I may have a problem).

Lantana

...or as I call it, ‘Verbena, no wait, lantana, or is it verbena? Uh... You know I used to work in a greenhouse where we grew thousands of these things? It’s lantana, definitely lantana. Don’t ask again.’

Some farmers prepping lantana leaves for an insecticidal spray

So apparently lantana leaves, flowers, roots, stems, etc. (we could save time by saying, the whole plant) can be ground up into a paste, the essential oils extracted in a simple water solution, and sprayed as an insecticide. What attracts me most to lantana is the absolute free-ness of it. Often, among those of us who are pitching botanical pest control solutions, there is a tendency to kind of ignore the price of the ingredients going into the mix. When you grind up garlic and onions you can get another apparently decent insecticide, which is fine except that garlic and onions aren't exactly cheap around here and when you start talking about the quantities necessary to spray a whole field of coffee, most farmers are going to start wondering why they’re not just using a packet of Dursban. Lantana on the other hand grows all over Oku and Mbessa, usually being used as an ornamental shrub or hedge and has literally no other current use to give it a monetary value. So harvest it up guys.

So free is good, but effective is really good and that is something I’m not 100% convinced on yet. I have heard that lantana is probably most effective on aphids in the coffee world, but the annoying thing is that it seems like everything is most effective on aphids. So when you’ve got aphids, no problem. The most common insect pest I’ve been seeing lately has been scales and occasionally mealy bugs. Scales are kind of a bear to control with any kind of contact insecticide because they have themselves pretty well protected under a nice waxy coat, so systemic pesticides tend to be more effective, but until I figure out how to get neem on a regular basis, I'm not sure what else would fit that description.

I’ll put some time on the internet to see what suggestions I can get for cleaning up scales, but if there are any suggestions out there, I’d love to hear them. (Pre-emptively, if you have a predatory insect in mind, I like that idea too, but you’ll have to give me suggestions on how to actually get them in Cameroon without breaking all sorts of laws transporting living insects across national borders)

Do NOT Sell Your Coffee

Because, if you happen to be a coffee farmer in Oku, you’ll be getting screwed. That is of course only my humble opinion, but I’ll elaborate. Today, coffee in Oku is selling at a price of 3,000 FCFA per tin (approximately 8-10 kgs) or about 300 to 370 FCFA/kg. For perspective, this past February we were buying conventional coffee at 750 FCFA/kg and since that time the freight on board (FOB) price in Douala has not changed at all.

It’s pretty clear why this is happening. Local coffee buyers got burned last year when they went out in December and opened the season buying from 800-1,000 FCFA/kg. In contrast, the Oku Area Cooperative Union opened its season in January at 700 FCFA/kg and never went above 725 FCFA/kg. We’ve been over this before. Unfortunately, it seems like the coffee buyers are acting with the same shortsightedness that got them burned last year, but they’ve flipped toward a more conservative approach.

A small number of coffee producers are accepting these horrendous prices because some unexpected expense has snuck up on them in the last few months. This is a shame. Let’s assume that the price next year will be similar to this past season (my prediction anyway, if anyone’s taking bets), if a farmer sells his coffee in May for 350 FCFA/kg and in January of 2014 it is valued at 750 FCFA/kg they’re looking at about a 10% interest rate each month or what amounts to around 200% APY. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to intervene with our (comparatively ridiculous) 0% interest advances so far this season, but we’re doing our best to get ourselves organized for this year. For the long-term health of the Oku economy and the coffee sector, these issues need to be addressed, so it is an intervention we are proud of and happy to provide as it can help the people we work with to get off of the spiraling credit carousel.

Now here’s a prediction that could add a twist to the situation. Believe it or not, lots of the guys who go out and give these loans to farmers at this time of year end up losing money at the end of the season. How could that be with such insane interest rates? Well the default rate is pretty high too (though it’s not really so formal as ‘defaulting’; basically a farmer just does everything they can to avoid you or tells you week after week that they’re going to get you your money from a son living in Douala or something like that). So thus begets a vicious cycle of the lender increasing interest rates to protect themselves which encourages more defaults spurring still higher interest rates, etc. Surprisingly, the social stigma against defaulting isn’t that great which increases the risk borne by the lenders.

So, what’s my advice to farmers who are hard up for money right now? Do the math. There are plenty of people in Oku who are willing to give short-term credit in a variety of ways. For example, if you need a sheet of tin for your roof, don’t sell a tin of coffee (at 200% APY) but instead try to work out an agreement with the guy selling the zinc with a set date and terms of repayment that will be a little more advantageous (hell, you could offer twice the price next year and still come out ahead). Easier said than done, sure, but do-able. And I’m here ready to help anyone who needs a hand doing said math.

Keep it on the Level

As I had said before, here in Oku and Mbessa the landscape tends to lend itself to being washed away by the rain. Couple that with the torrential downpours and long soaking rains we’ll be getting over the next few months and erosion is a pretty huge problem for farmers of all kinds. Unfortunately, awareness of erosion is low. In fact, I’ve been told that until fairly recently when people would prepare their fields for maize and bean cultivation they would prepare the beds and furrows with the slope (up to down) which is about 90 degrees away from where they should be; against the slope (left to right). This is kind of slope cultivation 101, and I’m happy that it is no longer the norm though you can still see the remnants of the process when you look at the piles of rock people have picked from their fields which are oriented with the slope.

Now, maize/bean fields are cultivated to reduce erosion. What about coffee? Well coffee fields don’t really need cultivation, particularly if you’re not trying to incorporate fertilizers. There are some benefits to cultivation that I can’t (and don’t try) to deny: weed control, some benefits to root growth, release of nutrients from organic matter that is being exposed to oxygen. On the other hand, I’m trying my best to introduce practices, or mentalities, which can help to replace or make obsolete these benefits. For example, instead of worrying about weeds, let’s embrace cover crops or instead of loosening the soil manually to encourage root growth, let’s let the roots of our cover crops, earthworms, and other soil flora and fauna do that work for us. So our primary recommendations to combat erosion are to plant cover crops, never reduce your ground cover so far that you expose the soil, and, most proactively, plant some contour bunds with a grass.

In April I was hoping to do the contour bund part on a whole slew of farms. That didn’t happen, largely because I ended up spending more time than I expected at the mill in Bali, but I did get the chance to implement this plan with two farmers, and I’m still hoping to do it with a few more in May. It is kind of a fun process that can be done in a much shorter time than I expected. Here’s what you do:

Step 1: Build an A-frame level. Simple little device you can make almost for free with

materials available on any farm (the only things you’ll need to have ready is a bit of string and a small plastic bag). The A-frame level allows you to measure a level line on any kind of terrain; accuracy is high which is really important for a bund.

Step 2: Calibrate your level using two points at slightly different heights. Put the legs at these points and mark where the string falls, then switch the legs and mark where the string falls. In between these marks is the level mark.

Step 3: Mark out some contour lines. Just walk across the field one level length at a time and put a stake (or slip of grass if you’ve got them ready) at every step. Separate your contour lines by as much distance as you like (smaller for steeper slopes, larger for gentler ones).

Step 4: Plant your bund. If you were marking with slips of grass you’re already about ¼ of the way there. Good choices for grass would be vetiver grass or the grass they call fever grass around here, which I think is the same as lemon grass. In either case, you want a clumping grass that grows moderately quickly, doesn’t spread by stolons or any kind of creeping structure, and doesn’t seed readily. Basically, you want it to stay where you put it.

Step 5: Let the grass grow. Cut it 2-3 times a year using the residue as a mulch.

Good work on making a grass bund, buddy.