Promoting Peace in Rural Cameroon
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
Early each morning, Djivai Berved bikes to his cornfield in Sirak village, some 46 miles from Maroua, in the Far North Region of Cameroon. He usually finds his crops growing well. But one morning in 2020, he arrived to find that his corn had been destroyed. The likely culprit: hungry cattle. Like Djivai, many farmers in Sirak village have experienced this, and accuse local cattle breeders of allowing their animals to wander and graze.
A cattle path was rehabilitated to resolve disputes between herders and farmers in Sirak village in the Far North Region of Cameroon.
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
“The conflict between herders and farmers has existed in this village for decades,” says Wouyak Bizha, the traditional ruler of Sirak. “The breeders do not respect the cattle tracks and the farmers keep extending their farming space and the cattle tracks have become smaller.”
Close to 15 years ago, villagers created a small route, also known as a cattle track, to serve as a passage corridor for the cattle so that they do not stray into farms and destroy crops. But over the years, the track wasn’t maintained.
In 2021, the Stabilization and Reconciliation in the Lake Chad Region Project, or STaR II, was implemented by Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Maroua-Mokolo with funding from the German Development Bank, or KfW, launched activities in Sirak. The project supports communities in the Far North Region whose lives have been threatened by food insecurity, conflict and climate change. It improves access to basic infrastructure and services, equipping families with tools and skills to set up or improve livelihoods. It also reinforces social cohesion and improved local governance. Through the social cohesion component of the project, peace facilitators were trained to help foster peace within the communities. They identified conflict with cattle and farmland as the greatest source of tension within the village and began talking to farmers and breeders about the importance of creating cattle tracks.
In 2023, the farmers and the breeders decided to rehabilitate and extend the abandoned cattle track in the village. Every farmer who owned a farm along the old cattle track was encouraged to give up a small piece of their farm so that the cattle track could be extended. The villagers installed thorny hedges along the cattle tracks to prevent the cattle from encroaching into the farms.
Wouyak Bizha is the traditional ruler of Sirak, one of the 10 villages where peace ambassadors of the STaR II project worked to resolve agropastoral disputes.
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
“The disputes have reduced by 90%,” says Wouyak. “We have rehabilitated over 150 kilometers of cattle tracks, which even extend into neighboring villages.”
During the 2023 farming season, Djivai’s farm was not invaded by cattle, and he has taken measures to ensure it never happens again.
“The last farming season, I harvested enough corn,” says Djivai. “I make sure that there are always thorny edges around my farm so that the animals cannot enter, and every farmer should do the same.”
Djivai Berved is a farmer and participant in the STaR II project in Sirak village, located in the Far North Region of Cameroon.
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
“Now that there is a proper cattle track, there is no need for quarrels,” says Yanda Marava, a cattle breeder. “It is difficult to control animals but now we make sure we respect the track.”
The STaR II peace facilitators continue stressing the importance of peace within the community.
“The peace facilitators have been very instrumental in reducing disputes in Sirak,” says Wouyak. “The peace facilitators should work in many more villages. They have really reinforced social cohesion between the refugees and the host community in Sirak. With more displaced persons arriving the village, we need them even more.”
The Stabilization and Reconciliation in the Lake Chad Region Project, or STaR, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, or BMZ, via the German Development Bank, or KfW. Phase I started in 2019 in Chad, Niger and Nigeria, while Phase II launched in September 2021 and expanded to include Cameroon. The project includes infrastructure development andrehabilitation, economic revitalization, social cohesion, and local governance. In Cameroon, CRS partners with Caritas Maroua-Mokolo to implement the project. Since 2021, the STaR II project has supported about 13,600 people by improving access to basic infrastructure and services, enhancing livelihoods, reinforcing social cohesion and improving local governance.
