Analysis of Small Scale Farmers Households Food Security in the Mount Bamboutos Ecosystem

Louis Nkembi¹, Deh Nji Herman¹, Tankou Christopher Mubeteneh² and Njukeng Jetro Nkengafac^3,

¹Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF), Civil Society Building, Co-Cathedral Road Molyko Buea, South West Region, Cameroon

²Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Science, University of Dschang, Cameroon

³Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Ekona Research Centre, PMB 25 Buea, South West Region, Cameroon

Cite this paper

Louis Nkembi, Deh Nji Herman, Tankou Christopher Mubeteneh and Njukeng Jetro Nkengafac. Analysis of Small Scale Farmers Households Food Security in the Mount Bamboutos Ecosystem. Journal of Food Security. 2021; 9(2):56-61. doi: 10.12691/JFS-9-2-3

Abstract

The Mount Bamboutos ecosystem constitutes part of the area with the second highest level of food insecurity in Cameroon. In order to check the diminishing biodiversity, there is an urgent need to develop a 25-year plan for the management of the Mount Bamboutos ecosystem biodiversity. This study seeks to examine the food security status of smallholder farming households, factors affecting household food security and coping strategies in case of food shortages. Households were selected through a simple random process from 11 villages around Mount Bamboutos and questionnaires administered to 261 household heads. The socio economic characteristics of the households were analysed. The main sources of income for farmers in the study area were crop production and animal production. The Household Food (In) Security Access Scale (HFIAS) was used to measure household food security. Forty five percent of the sampled households were food secure. Access to irrigation facility by household was positive and highly significantly (P<0.01) influenced household food security as well as the duration of household head in the village. The main coping strategies in case of food shortages used by the farmers were; eating same food and skipping meals. As a recommendation, irrigation facilities and training opportunities should be provided to smallholder farmers in the study area to ensure better crop production for food security.

Keywords

coping strategies, food security, irrigation, smallholder households, mount Bamboutos

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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