Cameroon is made up mostly of rural towns, and most of the communities’ livelihoods come from agriculture. Hence, cash crops and food crops are all that are cultivated. Most farmers are inexperienced, so farmers stay in a particular piece of land over a long period of time, reducing the yield of crops and thereby causing the farmers to leave or abandon the land over a period of time (also known as Shifting Cultivation). This now causes the people to move to a different pieces of land that are far away from their homes. I believe it important for the people to understand the modern methods of agriculture, which can increase yields and can reduce stress as well as avoiding them to have to farm far away from where they live.
Even though many organizations and government bodies have been trying to create awareness campaigns, the people in the rural areas are unfortunately hardly reached. Most of the people in charge avoid visiting the suburbs to carry out their campaign. Most of these rural areas are hardly accessible, causing most stakeholders to focus only in urban areas and headquarters of rural cities.
Rural areas and community farmers would benefit from the modern methods of agriculture. They face challenges such as how to work the land without relying on a high birth rate, and face extreme poverty. Most people only carry out subsistence farming, and don’t actively participate in their products’ markets.
Additionally, most people in rural areas suffer from malnutrition due to the lack of balance diets, as they can eat certain food crops as long as the season allows it.
Agriculture in these places is mostly done using traditional practices. This does not mean that they are unwilling to learn; but there is no access to awareness about how to improve their farming methods. The rural men focuses solely on food production; knowing what was handed down to them from their parents to him, and which they also intend to share with their children.
The world is a Global village. We all need to look out for one another and not pursue selfish gains. Together we can build the world through agriculture and land conservation. All we need is to reach out to everyone so that we all can contribute to this change.
