Abstract

Climate variability and change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, with far-reaching and devastating impacts on people, ecosystem services, natural resource-base and the natural environment as a whole. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of rainfall variability on agricultural production in Jakiri Sub-Division of the Northwest Region of Cameroon. Previous studies on the impact of climate on agriculture focused on stakeholder signatures to climate change adaptation to the agrarian sector of the Bui Plateau, which revealed that despites glaring consequences of climate, the Jakiri Council only allocates only 1% of its annual budget for climate action. Data sources for this study included the administration of 211 questionnaires to cover the three agro-ecological zones of Jakiri Sub-Division, rainfall data collected from UNVDA Ndop (lowland zone), National Meteorological Service (mid-altitude zone) and the Oku Wildlife Sanctuary (highland zone). The Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI) was used in analysing rainfall data. Results revealed that rainfall is reducing as depicted by the increasing trends in RAI. Farmers also perceived that food crop production has been decreasing. Despite these perceptions, some crops like cassava that is drought tolerant has been increasing. Again, rice production at the Wahsi-Ber Plain has been increasing. This calls for the development and production of more drought tolerant food crops to ensure sustainable rural livelihoods.

Keywords: Food crops; Rainfall; Vulnerability