Muaku Village is in Bangem Sub-division, Kupe-Muanenguba, South-West region of Cameroon. It has an estimated population of 520 inhabitants in 230 households. The main economic activity in the area is food crop production for subsistence and commercial purpose. Almost every household is involved in food crop cultivation. The agricultural system practiced here are slash and burn, based on shifting cultivation, inorganic farming and use of chemicals. Coffee is the major cash crop cultivated in the area. Other agricultural activities include the cultivation of plantain, beans, maize, pepper and animals like goats, pigs and fowls. Other livelihood supporting activities include; trapping/hunting and gathering of Non-Timber Forest Products.
There is unsustainable resource harvesting especially trapping/hunting and Non-Timber Forest Products collection. In 2006, the Muaku Community under the legal entity: “Muaku Community Development Association (MUCDA)” initiated the creation of the Muaku Community Forest and developed its Simple Management Plan. The Community Forest management was inactive, and this Simple Management Plan has long been ineffective. In 2021, Food and Rural Development Foundation (FORUDEF), with support from the WWF-Leading the Change Project undertook to revive the project, with the active collaboration of the Muaku Community and Divisional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife, Kupe-Muanenguba. This triplet effort resulted in the revision of the management plan using the Community-Based Natural Resources Management Approach. The Forest Manager and the Divisional Delegate of Forestry and Wildlife signed the Simple Management Plan. It is now at the level of the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife for final approval. Though facilitated by FORUDEF, Muaku Community members themselves effected these activities. The community forest executive committee members have engaged in beekeeping and domestication of Non-Timber Forest Product such as bitter cola. The bitter cola seedlings will be transplanted and beehives installed in the Community Forest.
