West Regional Fair : Rainforest-supported Enterprises Showcase Knowhow

There are many stands at this year’s West Regional Exchange, Discovery and Exhibition Fair, REDEO, holding at Tocket Sports Ground in Bafoussam. And running from December 13-22, 2024. Many items are expectedly on exhibition. But there is something peculiar with the stands of local Small and Medium-size Enterprises, SMEs supported by the international charity, Rainforest Alliance. 

Ultimate Goal, Product Certification
“The products on display are the result of the support we provided to enable communities become autonomous, more visible and capable of forming partnerships to ultimately certify what they produce,” observed Jacques Waouo, the Coordinator of Rainforest Alliance activities in the Western Highlands. Specializing in the production of honey and by-products, processed Irish potato, cassava, sweet potato, maize products and the production of avocado oil, the SMEs combine both “responsible management of resources” and “improvement of household income and social life” in their activities.

Sustainable Landscape Management 
The support is offered as part of the “Removing Barriers to Biodiversity Conservation, Land Restoration and Sustainable Forest Management through Community-based Landscape Management,” COBALAM project. The project is implemented by Rainforest Alliance with the support of UN-Environment, UNEP and the Cameroonian Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, MINEPDED. It is funded by the Global Environment Facility, GEF. 

Honey, Honey By-products
Present at the fair is the Simplified Cooperative Society of Beekeepers of the Bamboutos Mountains (SCOOPS AMONBA), represented by GIC APEB and GIC Ndasse. Their specialty is honey and its by-products. “We are exhibiting honey, beeswax, propolis extract, cleansing milk made from beeswax and propolis extract, massage balms made from beeswax and propolis extract, hair creams to thicken, make and grow hair, candles, etc,” explained the head of SCOOPS AMONBA, Charnelle Koubo Labo. Which has put out over 300 litres on exhibition at the fair. 

Crucial Rainforest Support 
The cooperative is made up of 56 people, over 60 per cent of whom are women. It was created in July 2024 and produces more than 5,000 litres of honey a year. SCOOPS AMONBA runs a sales outlet in Mbouda, Bamboutos Division of the West Region. “The support of Rainforest Alliance has been great. Before now, we practised beekeeping without training. Women weren't even interested in it. Rainforest Alliance trained us and stirred in us the interest to produce honey on the Bamboutos mountain range. They offered us equipment and an additional incentive by training us on processing honey,” said Ms. Koubo Labo. 

Economic Upliftment 
“Rainforest has played a big role in the economic upliftment of all members of the cooperative. To date, all members have undergone at least one ...