Creative Writing Contest Vol. 19 | Farming: How has the quality and quantity of the crops grown in your community changed over time?

Greetings steemians. Happy Sunday to you all. Hope you had a blissful worship.

source: google

I will be writing on tea cultivation in Ndu. Ndu is a sub-division in the Donga mantung in the north west region of Cameroon. Ndu is largely made up of subsistence farmers. The crops cultivated in this part of the country include: corn, Irish potatoes, beans, yam, vegetables in it's varieties, tea and many others. This subsistent farmers are expert in what they do.

Tea farming in Ndu started as far back the time of settlement. This was done only for consumption and not for sell. It was not also done in large scale but in a small scale per the family. Mostly, this tea was cultivated around the fence, at times it is used like fence itself round the compound.

Moreover, many people who didn't have interest in tea consumption started consuming tea and this led to an increase in the cultivation of tea and some people took it as a means to make money. Moving in my village, that is in Ndu, you will not go tow or three houses without seeing tea in a compound. Writing this post, I could picture my brother's house that was surrounded by tea and a kind of nice and beautiful picture when seen from a distance.

Some of the people went as far as owning a farm purposely for the cultivation of tea for marketing purposes. Many people got involved in this and cultivation of Ndu tea became a competition in that the consumption of tea increased. Many will come and buy to sell in other towns, villages and others bought to sell in their stores.

source: google

Further more, it was not long that it went up to a cooperative. Those who cultivated brought the tea to the cooperative and people buy from the cooperative. The coming of cooperative was a boast to the other farmer to start cultivating tea and a place was gotten for tea farming.

source: google

The cooperative grow and gave way to Ndawara. The name Ndu tea changed to Ndawara tea. He came in with factories. Machine to do the production. Those who were based on small scale tea farming were employ to work in the tea estate. He also got more land and expand the cultivation. Ndu or Ndawara tea is the largest tea estate in cameroon.

This is how the Ndu tea spring from nothing or low quality, quantity to hight quality and quantity. Grow from individual cultivation for individual consumption to an industry.

Thanks for reading.