LÉONCE, 22 YEARS
Former student at the Njombé agricultural training center in Cameroon.
Agricultural training program.
In order to break the cycle of instability in rural environments, the IECD and its partners have implemented in Cameroon (since 1992) and in Ivory Coast (since 1998), a network of dual-apprenticeship training centers in agriculture and animal breeding professions. The training allows young people from 13 to 25 years to acquire the skills needed to start their professional activity.
« I was brought up in farming, but every time I saw former students from the school, they were slightly different from me in how they farmed. Therefore, I decided to attend the FFS so that I could train and do even better than them.
I joined the family farming school in 2014 and spent three years studying there. When I left the school, I started farming pineapples, papaya and bananas. I also bred pigs: that is where I now focus my activity and put into practice what i have learned.
My plantation provides me with enough money to buy fertilizers and feed my plants. The school has taught me to keep a book of my income and expenditure. Therefore, I always know if I am losing or making money. Without this, it is difficult for a farmer to make savings. There are people who are on work placements with me and I try to pass on to them what I learned at the school. You start the school poor, but you finish rich: rich in terms of money, but also in terms of knowledge…
My project for the future is firstly to buy a small piece of land to build a house, then to find a wife with whom I can found a family. »
