incef

The INCEF production team based in Brazzaville: ecological journalist and coordinating officer, Bonne Annee Matoumona, and cameraman, Anatole Mafoula, traveled to the Department of Likouala from May 14-27, 2008. Visiting the towns of Impfondo, Epena, Koundoumou, Ibolo and Mboua, the mission’s main objectives were to research, photograph and interview citizens who are leading productive lives and supporting their families by means other than hunting.  We were looking for good examples of people who would testify about their decisions not to kill the great apes living around them that could be sold for trophies as well as for food.    

On May 15, the team made a formal presentation to the Department of Civil Authorities. We met with Mr. Gabriel Botenza, Cabinet Director for the Likouala Prefect and Director of the Department of Agriculture.  In our presentation we briefly introduced INCEF’s objectives, activities and rationale for coming to Likouala. The team also paid courtesy calls on potential partners at the offices of the Departmental Directors of Health and Population as well as Dr. Amba-Moundele.  The Director of Fisheries was not available unfortunately, because his son had recently been hospitalized. Since one of INCEF’s primary goals is to strengthen the capacity of local media, the production team worked with Mr. Serge Yedze Botonga, a journalist with Radio Moka in Impfondo.

For the video shoots on hunting and poaching alternatives, the team traveled to:

IMPFONDO:  At the departmental headquarters, on May 16, we met with Mr. Blaise Dzon, Director for Agriculture and Livestock.  He pointed out that in this region’s farming-dependent economy, there are extensive plantations of cassava, corn, potatoes, plantains and more.  He indicated that many of the sheep, goats and pigs being raised are getting too little attention to their health and that much of the time the animals are wandering loose and causing damage to the crops.  Whether the farmers are working individually or in groups, he concluded, they still need help from the state and from development NGOs.

On May 16-17 we worked with Mr. Raphael Mondinga, a retired rural economy engineer.  Mr. Mondinga raises sheep, goats, ducks, chickens and bees.  His crops include cassava and corn along with a palm oil plantation.  He is a widely-recognized source of knowledge in the Department regarding bee-keeping and the production of honey.

EPENA: On May 19 we met with Mr. Leon Mombete who told us that he’d reached age 67 without ever having worked as a civil servant or in an enterprise but has never been out of work.  After completing primary school he went straight to work raising animals.  In later years he took up farming as well.  He was the first to introduce goats and pigs into the Epena district.  Subsequently, he began to share his livestock expertise under a sharecropping contract with other interested neighbors in his district, providing one male and female of each animal.  The contract made it clear that these two animals were capital.  The owner could withdraw them if he so decided.  The offspring born under these contractual arrangements were shared equally between the proprietor and the shareholder.  Today, Mr. Mombete leads a stockholder group called “Yekola” made up of the goat, sheep and pig shareholders of Epena.  The group owns an enclosure 400 meters by 250 meters that serves as a pen.  The members plan to enclose this area with more permanent walls and have produced 10,000 finished bricks. They’re looking for help locally or internationally to complete the job.

KOUNDOUMOU: At this village, located twenty kms from Epena on the other side of the Likouala River, the team filmed the work of Mr. Remy Bobando on May 20th.  The young Mr. Bobando has earned a higher degree but he returned to his small village and his young family to began cultivating a small farm with his wife in order to raise enough money to finance some livestock He had 6,500 FCFA when he purchased his first goat.  A few months later she produced two kids and he sold one of the two in order to buy another female.  In this way, over time, he has developed one of the most important goatherds in his district.  Unlike the wandering goats of his neighbors, his herd is fully-enclosed.  Mr. Bobando also has a small palm oil plantation of 80 feet behind his house.

IBOLO: On May 21 we came to film the activities of a marketing co-op composed of both men and women and led by Mr. Michel Ebebela.  The sale of their cassava and corn last year allowed the members to earn 300,000 FCFA.  Mr. Ebebela also has a palm oil plantation of 80 feet and an oil press to supply the cooking oil needs of the surrounding area. We also met a young and energetic disciple of Mr. Ebebela, Arsene Ifoko, who began raising his own livestock as well as building a small kiln to produce bricks.

MBOUA: On May 23 we came to this town near the large city of Pokola in Sangha Department. Mr. Nirin Mambeya, a young farmer, is raising goats, sheep, pigs, cassava, corn and bananas on two plantations.  He explained that he soon hopes to sell his produce in Ouesso as well as Pokola.  We also interviewed Mr. Jeskin Ndongo and Mr. Augustin Mabila who also farm and raise livestock as more welcome alternatives to hunting and poaching.

The testimony we recorded for the film to emerge from this mission will make it abundantly clear that the potential of this area to support agriculture and livestock is more than sufficient to assure their effectiveness as alternatives to hunting and poaching. A subsequent mission in the appropriate season will explore the potential for fish farming as well.

INCEF extends its great appreciation to the Department of Likouala Prefect, Mr. Gilbert Djombo Bomondjo, for ensuring the full support of Department staff to our mission.

Bonne Annee Matoumona
Coordinating Officer INCEF/Congo
Brazzaville, ROC     June 5, 2008