RAISING DEMAND FOR FOOD AND CASH CROP PRODUCTION.

At the heart of food security chalenge in Camerooon ares mall scale ageing farmers-many of which are women -as around 90 per cent of food consumed in the country is locally produced.This food production is depended on the availability of rainfall usually refered to as rainfed-agriculture.This is also know as peasant agriculture,which usually concerns the production of agricultural items to satisfy to satisfied the living conditions of the farmer and his family sufficiency.But today this rudimentary agricultural practice is no longer production for this ageing farmers due to environmental constraints ,land degradation and soil erosion and climate variability over the years.

I took a visit to the grassland region of Cameroon were the main form of livelihood is agriculture.The farmers still practice the slash and burn farming system know there as "Akara".here farmers clear patches of the forest manually driven tools such as hoes,cutlases .Later they gather and burn the grass after adding soil on it.A few crops are then planted,which the harvest may give an output that is merely sufficient for the family.Usually there are little suplus for sale.

Most at times they burn the soil before planting and the knowledge of soil conservation remains very low.This also helps to destroy soil forming bacteria,thereby delaying not only decomposition but also the soil forming process.This farmers especialyn in rural areas are resistant to innovation though the government has done very little to change their perception.

when I stop at my own village mbatu,I saw climate change at my nostrils.where most of the farmers due to uncertainty in rainfall had already started planting their crps base on their own traditional calendars and perceptions.They started expecting their 1^st rains in December but till today the crops are getting scourge by sun heat,causindg some of them to be cursing the atmostphere for no rains.One old mother told me the rain has bypass them,for she heard it falling somewhere else.

When I took a closer look in Mbatu by visiting farmlands,I discovered that most of the agricultural land have been severely degraded especially those closer to streams which surely lead to a decrease in soil fertility and production capacity.These farmers put in much interms of time,labour and input but gets little interms of output.

Ignorance and lack of meteological information couple with poor farming systems in the North West region of Cameroon especially in my village Mbatu over the yearshave led to degradation of productive land,gren house gas (GHG)emissions and extensive water pollution.All this factors threatened the sustainability of food production and calls for sustainable land management practices to increase food production with environmental sustainability.EDWIN2014.

Threats to sustainability of food production in my community

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