A life of environmental activism started one evening in 2012, when a colleague handed Dzelagha Banboye Frederick a book called Africa Our Home and asked him to prepare a presentation on it the next day. “He said, ‘You’re a biology teacher, what can you do with this?’,” Dr. Banboye remembers. “I didn’t know it then, but that question changed the course of my life.” The next day, he stood in a seminar presenting an impromptu lesson based on what he’d learned from the book about the Mopane tree – a species that supports and sustains whole ecosystems. The success of his presentation sparked a love affair with environmental education that has since taken him to classrooms, village halls, and farms across Cameroon. His journey, from a secondary school biology teacher to a national expert on sustainable environmental education, is a story of passion, perseverance, and a deep-rooted belief that Cameroon can grow food without destroying the natural world that sustains it.
Dr. Banboye’s achievements offer a blueprint for living in harmony with nature while sustaining development and progress. He has evolved from an unassuming biology teacher to become a champion for environmental conservation. He now teaches Cameroon’s youth sustainable, agroecological farming methods using the same learning materials that captivated him all those years ago.
His approach is to champion agroecology: farming without chemicals that combines indigenous knowledge with modern science to grow food sustainably, keeps the soil fertile, supports indigenous mixed farming, and sustains nature’s processes. This farming method is cheaper, does not employ chemical inputs, and is thus a simplified way of promoting organic agriculture.
Despite resistance from some indigenous farmers due to fear of reduced output, the increase in yields of healthy, organic vegetables and fruits have led to improved health of the consumers and increased income to the farmers. Organically grown vegetables can earn three times the price of produce grown otherwise. In Cameroon, agroecology offers a more sustainable and healthy path forward because poor farming practices such as slash and burn have led to soil degradation, pesticide pollution, increased use of chemical fertilizers, and deforestation.
“It means growing food the natural way. No chemicals. No shortcuts. Just working with the land, not against it,” Dr. Banboye said. “When farmers see they can make a living while protecting biodiversity, they become our biggest allies.”
Dr. Banboye does not just preach agroecology – he practices it, trains others in it, and invents new technologies to support it. One such innovation emerged during his doctoral research: a passive greenhouse dryer for cocoa beans. Cocoa beans are grown in six of Cameroon’s ten regions.
“Most cocoa farmers use firewood ovens, which means cutting trees and filling the air with smoke,” he said. “My dryer uses the sun’s heat. It saves trees, improves air quality, and produces better quality cocoa beans.”
Though still in early stages, a cocoa cooperative in southwest Cameroon is exploring the construction of 200 such dryers, based on Dr. Banboye’s design. He also leads a pilot project producing organic fruit juice offering an alternative to unhealthy, high-sugar, carbonated drinks. Producing the juice promotes the planting of fruit-bearing trees and creates income-generating opportunities through environmentally friendly farming.
“If we can prove that natural juice is healthier and profitable, we can encourage organic orchards and reduce demand for chemically-grown fruits,” he said. “It’s about creating a virtuous cycle – good for the land, good for our health.”
Dr. Banboye is a believer in simple, practical tools to tackle complex environmental challenges. When he noticed that bracken ferns – a fast-spreading plant that animals would not eat – were overtaking grazing lands and sparking bushfires in the grazing fields of the Bamenda highlands, he turned to local elders. The solution? Plant elephant grass, a nutritious fodder species, in its place. This research is in progress, and its success would significantly increase fodder, improve cattle health and productivity and curb the rampant farmer-grazer conflicts usually emanating from the incursion of cattle in farmland.
“Burning the ferns during the dry season made the problem worse,” says Dr. Banboye. “But elephant grass outcompetes them naturally. It’s a farmer-led, low-cost, and biodiversity-friendly solution.”
Similarly, his training on organic pesticides and herbicides – made from salt, pepper, and other kitchen ingredients – have given farmers a safer and cheaper alternative to chemical sprays. Though still under refinement, early trials have shown promise, especially in tomato cultivation.
Dr. Banboye now holds MSc and PhD degrees in Food Science and Bioresource Technology from the University of Bamenda and an MA in Educational Quality from the University of Bamberg, and founded the community-based organization RACE to promote conservation and climate-smart agriculture.
He has trained over 2,000 teachers, and is now advising on Cameroon’s national biology curriculum to embed hands-on, conservation-focused learning.
And it all began with that handbook from PACE. Created by Tusk and Siren Conservation Education, PACE shares simple ideas to make big changes.
“PACE taught me that education isn’t just in the classroom,” he said. “If children understand biodiversity, they grow up respecting it. Some of my former students now run their own farms. Others teach. That’s how change spreads.”