notes on educational disciplines

CHAPTER FIVE

                 DISCUSSIONS OF FINDINGS AND RESULTS

5.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the findings and results of this study.  It tackles from four angles: the state of the agro ecology, the economic state of mixed faming, its social state and adaptability.

5.2 THE STATE OF THE AGRO ECOLOGY

In the early chapters, we saw that mixed farming is said to be viable if the agro ecology of the area is sound. This sub heading is therefore aimed at demonstrating whether or not the agro ecology is sound.

There is a considerable range of positive and negative interaction between crops, livestock and the environment within the different sub-systems in the agro zone of the small holder farmers in our study area. These interactions can affect land quality in its physical (Soil erosion) and chemical properties (soil fertility), the use of nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels and fertilizers and the conservation of agricultural (plant and animal) biodiversity.

5.2.1 Soil Erosion

This is probably the most pervasive form of land degradation in developing countries and Cameroon is not an exception. Erosion rates are particularly high in Asia, Africa and South America where they average 30 to 40 tons/ha/year, compared with an average soil formation of  1 ton per ha/year (Pimental et al, 1995 cited in www.sustainabletable.og/issues/economics/.

In Tubah sub-division, soil erosion is even more damaging on sloping lands where poorly managed sloping terraces under crops and degraded rangelands  (by over – grazing and farming) can lose up to 100 MT/ha/year.  This greatly reduces yields there by exposing the farmers to hunger in most parts of the year. Bojo and Cassels (1995) quantified similar losses in the degraded Ethiopian Highlands and concluded that including pastures in those environments as a means of reducing erosion could be a solution.

5.2.2 Soil Fertility

The chemical properties of the soil around this region vary greatly. The volcanic soils which have not lasted for long is more fertile and thus better suited for agricultural purposes than the already heavily weathered soils of older generations. Hydromorphic soil is frequently utilized for cropping lowland cocoyams (Bambili Village) and rice (Kedjom Ketinguh Village) which do extremely well. Also the soils especially in the farm plots, is also enriched by livestock manure. In fact, livestock here replenish a substantial share of soil nutrients and therefore reduces the need for inorganic fertilizer, with corresponding savings for farmers in terms of cash outlay, for the country in foreign exchange, and for the world in non-renewable resources. This is a crucial contribution because this is the only avenue available to many farmers for improving soil organic matter in our study area and Cameroon at large.

5.2.3 Non-renewable resources

Draught animal power, in addition to other economic benefits, provides an important source of energy in the mixed farming systems of the world and helps to reduce dependence on nonrenewable fuel resources. In developing countries, animal power is used to cultivate about 52 percent of the 480 million hectares of cropland (FAO, 1994 cited in www.fao.org/regional/seur/Review/Sust_far.htm). Draught animal is partially unavailable to small holder farmers of Tubah sub-division. Only a few farmers not a significant number though, own animal draught. This is a negative contribution to the viability of mixed farming system in this region, since the energy needed for cultivation is provided by farmers consequently forcing farmers to cultivate small plots.  

5.2.4 Biodiversity

In our study, mixed farming systems, livestock-environment interaction is a key focal point. With the current population pressure in our study area, some species of wildlife and plant diversity have been lost while other species of biodiversity have actually increased.

Reid et al. (1995 cited in www.fao.org/regional/seur/Review/Sust_far.htm) supported this fact when they demonstrated how the number of tree, bird and mammal species changes as human use of the resource base intensified. They also show that man’s agricultural activities must be balanced with environment’s capacity to sustain them. This has obviously reduces the natural flow of nutrients in the agro ecological niche which is vital to ensure increase food productivity in this region.

5.3 ECONOMIC STATE OF MIXED FARMING

Modern farming techniques have resulted in food abundance and at low cost, especially within the industrialized world. Can this premise be true with small farm holders in Cameroon as a whole and Tubah Sub division in particular?  However, as mentioned in the preceding chapters, a mixed farming system is said to be economically viable when farmers can produce enough food for self-sufficiency and/or income and gain sufficient returns to warrant the labor and cost involved.

Food production in Tubah sub-division still leaves much to be commented on. Though the environment is seemingly favorable, the use of crude tools, small plots for cultivation and the near absence of mechanical implement prohibit the expansion of farms and thus production. Most small holder farmers are unable to sustain the little food harvest through out the year. As a way out, livestock is sold to generate income that permits them to buy food provisions and other needs for the family.

Some of the loans made available by international donors to local farmers through the state, sometimes do not reach or even if they do, the percentage is far below the original amount. This has equally failed to expand farms for farmers to produce enough food for self-sufficiency, thereby, putting the viability of the mixed farming system to test.

Elsewhere, other loans provided under various development schemes to enable farmers acquire farm inputs and animals traction is just a drop in a sea of ocean to enhance production hence generate income among small household farmers in this sub-division. In the same line of reasoning, (Mclntire et al, 1992, Williams et al, 1994) suggest that exogenous technical changes including improved seeds, fertilizer, water and nutrient management are needed to raise over all productivity. They however regret the fact that the lack of abundant land to expand small holders production may continue to be a constraint in increasing food productivity and sustaining agricultural systems.

In line with the limited abundant land, the customary tenure system is very complicated in owning land in this area. Originally, allocation rights are vested in the community (or delegated to the community by the traditional); there is a tendency for outsiders to attribute to the community or to its trustee the ability to act with full force of ownership in the Western sense. In this view, farmers are sojourning on the land and can be ejected by the land authority anytime.

Women do not usually qualify for independent use rights, but gain access through marriage and may lose them through divorce or death of the husband. This tenure system causes most farmers not to invest in new technologies or practices that could go a long way to enhance production thus ensure food self sufficiency and reasonable returns that can maintain the farming system.

Also, small products produced through the collective efforts of associations, encounter problems reaching the market. This is due to poor infrastructures like farm to market roads and vehicles to carry the goods. This sometimes frustrates most farmers and they sell their goods on the farm at give away prices. How then can they pay for labor, increase food production, let alone sustain the mixed farming system with all these economic constraints?

According to other important documents, economic distortion in many Sub-Saharan countries (Cameroon inclusive) since independence has affected the process of agricultural intensification. Cash crops and minerals continue to be the main sources of foreign exchange and government revenue. This leaves the small farming to the mercy of small household farmers. With the low income and poverty experienced by the population at large there is bound to be substantial decrease in farm products.   

5.4 STATE OF ADAPTABILITY

Previously, we have presented data on the state of adaptability to changing farming conditions such as population growth, policies and market. At this juncture, we will find out whether small household farmers in this region are adjusting to changing conditions with the aim of ensuring sustainability.

Traditional farming techniques are still well desired here, (Egger cited by Altieri, 1995), this is because the farmers have no other options. The animal draught which was meant to boost production introduced by German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the late 1970 (Dieter Prinz and Franz Rauch, 1987) was abandoned almost immediately after the project was handed to the local communities.

Due to an increase in population, traditional soil protection techniques, in particular the long fallow periods which protected against erosion and allowed soil nutrients to recharge are no longer possible. Williams et al (1987) in a similar line, has said sticking to traditional methods to resolve the problem of population pressure amongst others.

Cooperatives and associations have also been formed by farmers as part of the solution to population increase and lack of farm inputs. Some of the associations include that between Bantu farmers and Fulani herdsmen where they enter into a system of paddocking (already explained earlier). Williams et al (1987) has studied such a system of adaptability and outlined eight advantages farmers derived from it (See Chapter Two).

The recent development objectives in Cameroon and in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa orientated towards resource conservation and natural resource management while striving for greater agricultural production is still to create an impact in Tubah Sub-Division. In fact, this changing policy outwardly remains theoretical rather than practical leaving the farmers with little or no direct support from the state to improve on household farming to contribute to the country’s annual economic growth in order to ensure food security and a modest standard of living (World Bank, 1989). The nature of available data and the lack of an explicit representative model of farm inputs and returns suggest considerable caution in inferring trends in farm level financial incentives in Cameroon over the last two decades and particularly, their effect on the profitability of various mixed farming strategies.

5.5 SOCIALLY SOUND STATE OF MIXED FARMING

Unlike industrial farms, where their primary goal is to maximize profits, small holder farms produce primarily for subsistence. Workers on industrial farms and those in the food-processing industry are often subject to hazardous working conditions and unfair labor management practices. Sustainable farmers on the other hand, understand that healthy and fair employment can yield better food and stronger community ties. This is evident in our study area where work is either organized among the household members or within groups. This is a boost to sustainable mixed farming system because labor is ensured despite the extensive use of human energy.

Acquisition of farmland in Tubah sub-division has been a subject of concern over the years. In an attempt to acquire more land for grazing or farming, incidents have been reported between Bantu farmers and Fulani grazers, between farmers of the same village and between the five villages making up Tubah Sub-Division (Land conflicts between Kedjom Ketinguh and Bambili, Bambui and Bambili, Bambui and Funghe). These conflicts over the years have affected the output of mixed farming as farmers live in distrust, sometimes abandoning distant plots for fear of enemy strikes. Speirs and Olsen (1992) think that conflicts come as a result of population increase where competition for land, labor increases between the end users of crops versus livestock, resident and migrant farmers.

Transportation of farm products out of the Sub-Division leaves nothing to be desired. Apart from the two main tarred roads crossing this area to Ngokentungia and Boyo divisions respectively; no farm to market roads exists within and among the villages. This renders expectation of farm products difficult.  Farmers are faced with the consequences when perishables are to be transported to the larger markets in the cities and so, leading to serious wastage of farm products that could have been preserved for future consumption or sale. The inaccessibility to a reasonable market hinders expansion (Speirs and Olsen 1992).