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This August, Vice President of the Methodist Conference, Dudley Coates, visited MRDF partner the Presbyterian Rural Training Centre (PRTC) in Cameroon.  Here's what he found when he got there:

 

Why did you choose to visit MRDF partners in Cameroon?

My wife, Jean, and I visited PRTC after attending the Nigerian Methodist Conference. I wanted to familiarise myself with the work of MRDF and we both wanted to see a project engaged in rural development and agricultural extension as we have some familiarity with this in the UK.

 

What were your expectations of Cameroon before the visit? Did they match the reality?

We knew we were visiting a poor country which earlier this year qualified for full debt relief. We expected poor roads ? though the main roads were better than we feared.

We knew that Cameroon is one of the wettest places on earth and that we would be there in the rainy season; we were not disappointed, experiencing tropical thunder storms. But the sun shone on the day when we visited farms!

We had not expected to find that polygamy was still common ? but this explained the sheer numbers of children who met us in several farm compounds.

 

What are the problems facing people in the area where you visited?

Much of the farming in the NW Province of Cameroon is subsistence farming ? people grow crops for food for themselves and their families.

They have poor access to technology ? such as seeds, chemicals and equipment. The roads are rough tracks passable only slowly even in a 4x4 so they have very poor communications. There is virtually no marketing infrastructure, so even if they grow cash crops they have no means of marketing them except to ?middlemen? at low prices.

 

How do you think PRTC's work is making a difference to tackling poverty in Cameroon?

• By educating farmers, especially but not solely women, in better ways of growing crops and keeping animals.
• By introducing them to new and different crops (notably medicinal plants) which can help them, their families and their neighbours.
• By providing access to micro-finance to help new developments.

 

What, for you, was the most interesting part of PRTC's work?

The way that PRTC work as much with groups of farmers in their home villages as well as with individuals who can actually come to the centre for formal courses. It depends on dedicated staff who are willing to travel in difficult conditions and with inadequate transport.  I was encouraged by the positive attitude and sheer enthusiasm of the farmers and PRTC staff we met.

Was there any one person or one conversation that stood out from your visit?

The discovery that PRTC?s Vice Principal had been one of Jean?s students in the 1980s when she taught at the University of Reading.

Visiting this project was an enormous privilege and I have come back even more convinced that money given to MRDF is well spent.

You can find out more about MRDF partners in Cameroon in the Small Miracles Harvest Pack.