ABSTRACT

           The discovery internship tittled The “Discovery of an agro-pastoral enterprise” was carried out in Nazareth Center. Nazareth Center is located at mile 4 Nkwen Bamenda 3 subdivision of Mezam division in the North West region of Cameroon. This internship was carried out from the 15th of March 2022 to the 25th of April 2022. It was carried out by the year on trainees of TSA Bambili under MINADER. The global objective of the internship was to carry out a diagnosis of an agro-pastoral enterprise in it’s socio-professional millieur.

        Data collected from the primary source was gotten directly from the field by observation, partisipation, group discussion, interviewing the manager and the unit managers of Nazareth Center. Secondary data from record books. The materials used to collect the information were pencils, pens, books, rulers and mobile phones.

       From these finding, it was seen that the farming system at Nazareth Center is both livestock and cropping( poultry, piggery, maize and huckleberry).

The promoter was granted 11hectas for free by the Fon of Nkwen on which rearing of animals and cultivation of crops were being done. The reason for the promoter’s choice was because the community was poor and parents could not further their children’s education. So the piarist priest saw this as an opportunity to locate in the area so as to help the less opportuned. It is succes today because of the collaboration of the community and the availability of natural factors such as normal temperature of about 22°c rainfall of 2000mm-3000mm and rivers which favours the farming system. There is the availability of both skilled and unskilled labour, permanent workers and casual workers in the enterprise. The capital in the enterprise is characterized by both fixed and variable capital. Where fixed are buildings and machines where as variable is liquid cash for the running of the farm. Their short comings include power failure, though there is  a high capacity generator. Also there is shortage of water and the road is not tared for transportation.

          It is recommended that the generator should always have fuel in it and the enterprise should dig a well that can help solve the case of water shortage.

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture is the growing of crops and/or rearing of animals. Cameroon and it’s fast growing population and agriculture as it’s backbone sees the need to speed up growth in this sector. To make this happen, the government created schools such as TSA Bambili, RCA Bambili and  just to name a few. To boost the rate of agriculture in Cameroon. It also approved the opening training programs such as AFOP and opening of Agro-pastoral centers such as Nazareth Center. To do all it can to ensure the growth of this sector, they train youths on agricultural practices.

                    Nazareth Center was created in 1997 and was authorized to function in 2003. Along the line it faced some difficulties which closed it down and later started fully in 2008. This center was started by a congregation of religious priests headed by the piarist father’s. The piarist fathers is an order in the catholic church founded in 1597 by ST Joseph Calassnz. The idea of creating the center in Bamenda was due to the presence of young people who dropped out of school because of poverty. Since the mission was for education in piety (faith), and knowledge with agriculture being the main activity in this area it led to the of Nazareth Center.

                  At first it wasn’t out for production but for training of youths only. Due to the addition of programs such as AFOP, the center changed to a production and trainoce terin 2010 so as to have money to pay the trainers and continue training the youths. This made them to increase the units of livestock production and the surface area for crops so as to have more output for sale. To obtain this objective, they got assistance from NGOs and ITAKA which was the first sponsor and MANOS UNIDAS  from Spain which reinforced the building.

                The discovery internship is a course offered by all year one trainees of TSA Bambili, and the internship was carried out from the 15/03/2022 to the 25/04/2022(6weeks) at Nazareth Center. The main objective of this internship was “To carry out the global diagnosis of an enterprise in it’s socio-professional millieur” with specific objectives being;

• To describe and analyze the environment of Nazareth Center.
• To describe and analyze the promoter of Nazareth Center’s life.
• To describe and analyze the production techniques of Nazareth Center.
• To carry out the technico-evonomic analysis of Nazareth Center.

             The methods of data collection were through observation, participation, group discussion, interviewing (in the classroom) which were all primary while secondary data was gotten from record books. Tools used in collecting data were pens, pencils books, rulers and mobile phones. This report is divided into four chapters which are:

1)  Chapter one which is to describe the environment of Nazareth Center

2) Chapter two who’s to analyze the promoter’s life

3) Chapter three which is to analyze the production techniques and production system.

4) Chapter four which dedcrythe technico-evonomical analysis of the production system.

                                                         CHAPTER ONE

ENVIRONMENT OF THE APE

Nazareth center is located at mile 4 Nkwen Bamenda 3 subdivision of Mezam division in the Northwest region of Cameroon

1.1) Physical Environment.

1.1.1) Climate

                        Climate is the atmospheric condition of a place over a long period of time. NAPTPC which has the guinea savannah climate type has influence settlement and agriculture. There are two main seasons in this area which are; the raining and dry season. The raining season begins in March to September. The dry season starts from October to February. The annual temperature of this area does not usually go below 19°c  in the dry season and the raining season ranges from 2000mm- 3000mm per annum. Grazing becomes very difficult during the dry season as pasture dries off and water supply becomes limited to herds men there by making them to move from one place to another in search of green pastures. Farming activities too are distributed as farmers waits for the rain in March. During the dry season, the center uses irrigation to continue production, but it’s also a problem around the mid dry season as the water table reduces heavily causing some streams to dry off.

Below is the diagram of the ombrothemic diagram of Nkwen Bamenda.

Figure 1: Ombrothemic diagram of Nkwen Bamenda (NAPTPC)

        From the diagram above it shows that there are two seasons in Nkwen (NAPTPC) which are the raining and dry season where by the raining season starts from March(03) to October (10) and the dry season starts from November (11) to February (02). During the raining season, the center has the advantage of cultivating 2 times a year especially crops that need more water for growth(maize)  because it’s at this period that the rain it’s at its peak, and low temperatures. Also the specie of maize cultivated here is ATP which takes 4months to be mature. Because of the seasons it is advisable for the center to cultivate twice so as to make more revenue.

Even with all these advantages, the rain was greatly delayed this yeah with reasons known to non so it had disrupted the cultivation.

1.1.2: Relief

                    It is the physical environment of an area indicating whether it is gentle or mountainous. Nkwen is hilly with an average altitude of 1000-1200m above see level. It is a gentle sloppy area which makes the production of varieties of crops favourable and also for mechanisation.

1.1.3: Vegetation

                             This is the total plant bio-mass of an area over a period of time. The vegetation type of Nkwen is the Guinea Savanna type with patches of forest trees such as Eucalyptus and Cypress which acts as wind breaks, protecting crop and used as wood and the Eucalyptus provides planks for construction.

1.1.4: Hydrography

                               Hydrography refers to the various water bodies found in a particular environment. There are streams and water fall around NAPTPC which provides enough water for irrigation in the dry season even the raining season and drinkable water for animals and households. Some of these rivers include the “Nkilepakan” and “Nkiwusung” and there are also beautiful water falls found on the mountain slopes.

1.1.5: FAUNA

                      Fauna is all the types of animals found in a particular place at a particular time. The animals found in Nkwen include; sheep, Rabbit, Fish, Pigs, Snakes, Rats, Dogs, Cats and Goats just to name a few which are both domestic and living freely in nature.

Table 1: Animals found in Nkwen

Source: Author

        These animals are both advantageous and disadvantageous to the center in that some of the animals such as cattle and Goats, when they go astray they destroy crops such as maize and beans which in turn reduces the income of the enterprise.

1.1.6: FLORA

                   Flora refers to all the various species of plant found in an environment. The vegetation of Nkwen is the savanna vegetation which has tried like the Eucalyptus, pears, guavas, mangoes,pawpaw, cypress and other plants like cassava, watermelon, huckleberry,cabbage, maize and beans just to name a few. Below is a table showing both the common names, scientific nsmes and the importances of the vegetation.

Table 2: Vegetation of Nkwen.

Source: Author

1.2: Socio-Cultural Environment.

                In addition that physical environment had played a great part in the location of Nazareth Center, Socio-cultural environment also has a great role to play in it’s localization.

1.2.1: Population and active population.

                 Population is a group of people living in a particular area sharing common beliefs and customs. The population of Bamenda Nkwen is about 36011 per thousand.

         Since the population around the enterprise is made up of mostly youths, it creat availability of cheap labour.

1.2.2: Ethnic Groups

                      An Ethnic group is defined as a group of people who share a similar cultural value, belief and language and other characteristics which are often handed from generation to generation. There are two main ethnic groups in the Bamenda 3 municipality area which are Nkwen and Ndzah including somes tribes that has migrated to the area such as  Kom, Banso, Okie and Babanki just to name a few.

1.2.3: Birth Rate.

                       Birth rate is defined as the number of  live birth per thousand of the total population per year( Advance level  population geography by Mr Njuah Louis). The formular to calculate birth rate is;

BR: number of birth÷total population × 1000

BR: 2797÷38011×1000

=73.5%

1.2.4: Death Rate

                    It is the total deaths per thousand of the population of an area over a year. It is calculated as thus

DR:. Number of death÷ total population× 1000

DR:39÷ 38011×1000

0.0010%

1.2.5: Growth Rate

                      This is the difference between birth and death rate. It is calculated as follows BR – DR ÷ total population

73.5% – 0.0010% = 73.59%

1.2.6: Population Distribution

        This is the manna in which people are spread over the earth surface. The table below shows the population distribution of Nkwen and Ndzah according to sex and age.

Table3: Population distribution of Nkwen

Source: Bamenda 3 council records

1.2.7: Migration

                This is the movement of people from one place to another. Either from town to town or one country to another. There are two types of migration which are Immigration and  Emigration. Migration in Bamenda 3 municipality is done mostly by the youths and working stage to other towns like Yaounde and Douala in search of job opportunities and also the Anglophone crisis has made many of them to migrate in fear of the unknown (Emigration). Even though they move to the mentioned towns above, many still come in to Bamenda 3 municipality(Immigration) either in search of jobs or for studies

In this aspect, migration is both positive and negative. Positive as youths move in and negative as youths move out .

1.2.8: Customs

                The Nkwen people are believed to be part of the Tikari ethnic group which migrated from Nigeria passing via Ndop, Kom, Bafut before settling in their present site. In every household, there is a head of family either male or female. Polygamy is a very common thing amongst the people of Nkwen including monogamy, and inheritance is male oriented and can be female oriented only in the case where there is no male in the family again but will be immediately passed over to her son if she gives birth to a boy and when he is of age. As to say the female inheritance is conditional. There is a compound in which every house hold us attached to. The compound is headed by a traditional tittled holder and he is given a cup which he uses to perform traditional duties within the family and else where when there is need. At the quarter level, there are quatrt heads that are in charge with the responsibilities of protecting the quarter at the level of village in all matters concerning the quarter, this is closely followed by palace. In the quarters, informations are passed on by town criers. The Fon is the administrative head of the entire village and he goes through every quarter by the help of members of the traditional council. Also, there is the existence of secret cults such as the “Kwifon”, the “Manning” and the “Tekembeng”.

1.2.9: Believe

              It is defined as to have confidence or faith in the truth of a positive assertion or story which gives credence to that thing (http://www.dictionary.com>browse)

         There are three main believes in Nkwen that is the traditional belief, christianity and islamic belief.

1.2.9.1: Traditional

• Tradition is still respected and carried out in the Bamenda 3 municipality, and from information gotten from some persons who are natives of Nkwen, they follow customs of Nkwen. They have shrines where libations are poured showing their belief in ancestral spirits . Special days are set aside to celebrate the previous fon(s) and queen mother’s. During such days, which a locally known as “contri sundays”, where there is the small and big contri sunday. During the big one, there is no farming activity either working or harvesting then 4 days from that day is the small one and the only thing that can be done in the farm is harvesting and failure to respect these days, your farm land will be prohibited from farming on untill a huge some of money is paid to apeace the gods. The secret society like the “Kwifon” and the traditional council headed by the fon functions in ;
• Maintaining peaceqnd order in the village
• Organizing community development work
• Resolving conflicts between villagers
• Circulation of information through the town crier.

1.2.9.2: Christianity

               Despite the belief in ancestors, some of the people believe in God Almighty and they are said to be christians. The different denominations are like the Roman catholic church, the Baptist and the Presbyterian. These denominations had greatly influenced the development of the commyby opening schools such as the St Joseph Calasanz’s primary and secondary school Menteh, hospitals and agro-pastoral centers like NAPTPC which is owned by the catholic mission.

1.2.9.3: Islamic

              There are good number of muslim with their houses evenly spread within the council area. They pray to Allah and the main mosque is in mile 3 Nkwen and another smaller one at the mile 4 park Nkwen.

1.2.10: Economic environment

             The table below shows the primary secondary and tertiary activities in the Bamenda 3 municipality.

Table4: Economic environment

Source: Bamenda 3 council records