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Planting indigenous fruit and medicinal trees has changed the lives of tens of thousands of poor people in rural Africa.  Women are feeding their families, sending their children to school and improving their status at home thanks to a successful IFAD-supported programme.

The costs of health care services to patients in West Africa have been rising because governments can no longer afford to pay for public health care systems. Unlike most developed countries, the formal health insurance sector in West Africa covers only a small minority, primarily those working directly for governments or large corporations. This leaves most of the poor rural population — those most in need — unable to afford health services, especially in emergency situations.

Batcham is located in the provincial capital of the West Province of Cameroon. In a ten-minute drive from Bafoussam, on the road to Bamenda, you will find a junction branching off to Dschang which also leads to Batcham. On this road you cannot miss a big junction with a market and many bicycles and motorcycles waiting to pick up people going to Batcham. Take a right and a dirt road will lead you to Batcham. You must fasten your seat belt and hold on tight otherwise you will hit your head against the roof of the vehicle as it rides over the the potholes.

Au Cameroun, les programmes de formation a la domestication des arbres, du World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), appuyes par le Fonds international de developpement agricole (FIDA), ont donne naissance a de nouvelles petites industries lucratives: les pepinieres. Les agriculteurs produisant eux-memes leurs plants ameliores d'arbres agroforestiers, en particulier des especes d'arbres locales et plants medicinaux a grande valeur economique et les vendent pour gagner de gros revenus.

En Afrique centrale, l'adage veut que celui qui apporte du kola apporte la vie. Pourtant, jusqu'a une epoque recente, personne ne se decidait a planter des kolatiers. Le Centre international pour la recherche en agroforesterie et ses partenaires ne menagent pas leurs efforts pour faire de ce patrimoine culturel un produit rentable en domestiquant le kolatier, et ils font appel a la multiplication vegetative pour obtenir des noix de grande qualite.

Bokito Rural is a village located 200 km North West of Yaounde, the capital of the Republic of Cameroon.

This village is under the administrative Division of Mbam and Inoubou in the Center Province of the country. It is one of the lucky villages in the country, with most of the roads tarred except for about one kilometre. When entering this village, you will not miss the locally constructed bridge which was repaired by the youth of the village, who collect fees from every vehicle crossing the bridge. Just after the bridge is the chief's compound, looking clean like most of the compounds in the village. The village is small. It is made up of three quarters, namely Niolomo, Doubodo and Ossombi.

Nkouondja, a village in the West Province of the Republic of Cameroon, is known in the Foumbot District for its improvement in the management of its water supply system. The secret behind this improved management is the proper organization of the village with prominent figures like the chief, Mr. Isiaka - president of the Village Development Committee (VDC) and Mr. Moussah - president of the Water Management Committee (WMC).

Catherine Molindo and a group of her friends are the proprietors of the LIWOFISHCO fish-processing cooperative, a small-scale, self-started business based in this bustling port town on Cameroon's southwest coast.

Poverty in Cameroon’s rural areas is widespread. After liberalisation of the coffee and cocoa industries in the 1990s, development programmes were put in place to assist local producers of coffee, cocoa, bananas and oil palm. Programmes aimed to improve production methods, so that products are more competitive in the market place.

Poor farmers have little chance of getting a fair price for their produce if they don’t know how much markets beyond their villages are willing to pay. The internet is leveling their playing field through schemes such as INFOSHARE, which is giving access to the latest market news to thousands of remote cocoa and coffee farmers in Cameroon.