Among the beneficiaries is Angafor Peter, a raffia bush tapper from Bambui, one of the villages that make up the Bafut Tubah parliamentary constituency. He came on the invitation of his Member of Parliament, Hon Agho Oliver Bamenju, to receive equipment intended to make his work safer and more productive.
The raincoat, rain boots, cutlasses and other items handed to the tappers on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, may appear modest, but for Angafor Peter, who spends several days each week in the raffia bushes, they address some of the practical difficulties that come with his trade.
During the rainy season, he said, access to the bushes becomes particularly difficult.
“At times, you go to the bush and you are not able to come back with a litre because of the flooding,” Peter explained, adding that heavy rainfall and water flowing through the bushes often make the work more difficult.
The equipment, he said, would provide some protection against the rain and help him continue working under conditions that would otherwise interrupt his livelihood.
Angafor Peter has been tapping raffia wine for decades. He learnt the trade from his father, accompanying him to the bushes before eventually taking over after his father's death.
For him, raffia bush tapping is a source of income for his family and an important part of community life.
He estimates that raffia bush tapping provides him with about FCFA 12,000 on a productive day. Working for six or seven days before allowing the palms to rest gives him an income that helps meet his children's school needs and supports other household activities.
Yet the trade faces a less visible threat which is the the gradual disappearance of the raffia environment on which it depends.
Angafor Peter said some raffia bushes are being destroyed for housing and crop cultivation, putting the future of the trade at risk.
“If we don't plant more of them, we will suffer again, and our children, our next generations, will not suffer again,” he said, calling for greater protection and regeneration of raffia resources.
That concern is central to the intervention by Hon Agho Oliver Bamenju.
The MP said the support was informed by a needs assessment involving palm wine tappers and other stakeholders in the sector. The beneficiaries themselves identified equipment such as raincoats, boots, cutlasses and other protective materials among their immediate needs.
But Hon Agho Oliver wants the intervention to go beyond distributing equipment.
He described palm wine tappers as important actors in environmental protection because their livelihoods depend directly on the preservation of raffia wetlands. Supporting them, he argued, can create an incentive to protect the same ecosystems from indiscriminate destruction.
“We know that they are the ones who combine the produce in the wetland, and so therefore, if we push them closer to health, we assure that our environment will be safe,” the MP said.
He also warned against the destruction of raffia areas for construction and farming, linking such practices to environmental degradation and climate change.
The intervention therefore carries a second message which implies that protecting the tapper's livelihood requires protecting the environment that sustains it.
Hon Agho Oliver also raised concerns about hygiene in the production and handling of palm wine. He said tappers sometimes use discarded chemical containers to store the beverage, a practice he warned could expose consumers to serious health risks.
The MP said future assistance would include safer containers and other materials to improve hygiene throughout the production process.
The objective, he explained, is to help transform palm wine tapping from an overlooked traditional activity into a more organised and hygienic local economic sector.
“We want this sector to be completely hygienic. We want it to be completely healthy,” he said.
He further linked the initiative to the government's import substitution policy, arguing that locally produced goods should be made safer, more valuable and more competitive for local consumption.
For Hon Agho Oliver, the intervention also carries a personal dimension. He said raffia bush tapping was part of his own childhood experience and that the sector contributed to the foundation that eventually enabled him to reach his present position.
His decision to support the tappers, he said, is therefore partly about giving recognition to a sector that has historically received little institutional attention.
For Angafor Peter, that recognition matters.
He says raffia bush tappers are sometimes dismissed because of the physical nature of their work, but he takes pride in the occupation because of its importance to families and culture.
“As a tapper, I am proud to be a farmer and a tapper in particular,” he said.
That cultural importance is evident in Bambui, where Peter says raffia wine remains central to traditional marriages, funerals and palace ceremonies. It is used to symbolise union during traditional marriages, forms part of funeral rites and is also associated with blessings in traditional institutions.
The challenge now is to ensure that the sector can survive beyond the present generation.
Hon Agho Oliver said the assistance will continue, with plans to provide further materials, including planting materials to support the regeneration of raffia and safer containers for palm wine.
The expected impact is therefore broader than helping tappers work through the rainy season. The intervention seeks to connect livelihood support with environmental conservation, public health, cultural preservation and local economic development.
For men such as Angafor Peter, the immediate gain is better protection in the bush and greater recognition of their work.
For the constituency, the larger test will be whether such support can help preserve the raffia wetlands, improve the safety and value of palm wine and make a traditional livelihood viable for the next generation.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Web
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