ABSTRACT
An intensive system of soil and water management has been developed by local people over the centuries in the Mandara Mountains of Northern Cameroon to restore and maintain soil fertility. Terraces, rows of stones, small dykes, irrigation and drainage canals, wells and micro-dams are combined with a range of biological methods, such as agroforestry, composting, mulching, growing complementary crops and crop rotation. Over the last three decades, improved security and service provision have encouraged people who were originally settled on the slopes of the Mandara Mountains to migrate to the adjacent plains, leading to changes in soil conservation techniques in both the mountain and the plain.
