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Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Climate Change: Sporadic Rain Destabilizes 2018 Planting Season, Famine Feared


Crop cultivation is an important activity in Donga Mantung and farmers rely mostly on maize farming to earn a living. But this activity depends highly on the rain. This year, farmers have witnessed a change in the rains that usually call for planting of crops. Normally, the first rain usually come by March 14 or 15 but for 10 days now, farmers have been waiting for the rains to come to no avail. Some farmers who could not continue to wait for the rains hurriedly buried their sees in the hot soil.
The question as to whether the seeds are drought resistant abound high.  It is feared this could lead to famine. 
Donga Mantung Divisional Delegate for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ncham George says farmers should stop planting. “We have called on farmers to stop planting and to wait for the rains. At the level of my office we have not started the distribution of seeds”. To Ncham George, the rain that few drops of rain that showered some localities in the Division was not sufficient enough to generate heat that can enable crops to germinate. 
Yet, some farmers ignored the call from the delegate of Agriculture. Mami Rebecca Yaah says she also planted maize seed because she saw that other women were planting as well. "I have already planted in one of my farms but my husband advised that I should wait for the rains before any planting can take place in our second farm" says Winifred Njingi. 
Harping on the role of the technical service Mami Margesta Cheche said that she started planting but had to stop when she was informed at the village meeting that they have been told not to plant crops. "We were told the delegate of agriculture announced over the radio that we should stop planting so I could not continue with the planting" .
Villagers have started looking at the present stalemate as the beginning of the end of the world. In just the past few days, the precarious situation has had diversified interpretations. It is widely said in some villages that the gods are angry while another school of thought describes the scarcity of the rain as witchcraft. In some areas, the population is actually looking at the traditional rulers to pour libation calling on the gods to send the rain. But scientifically, the argument has proven not to hold water as it is widely believed by almost all the villagers in Donga Mantung Division some witches and wizards have blocked the rain in the sky. 
Although atmospheric scientists increasingly believe that this is the impact of climate change, traditionalists on the other hand still think that the gods are angry and that the land has been curse by numerous sacrileges committed by man. Yet they haven't yet figured out precisely what's behind the present stalemate. Streams have reduced and some completely dried off. But it is common occurrence nowadays to see a traditional ruler pouring libation to call on the gods to bring back the rain or bring back a drying stream.
However, Fon Gwan Mbanyansiq, President of the Cameroon Traditional Rulers against Climate Change debunked the mysticism linked to the sporadic rains. "We have been trying to sensitize our villages on this quagmire of the century known as climate change. If our villages do not stop some of these beliefs, they will suffer the most from the effects of climate change. Time for action is now, because Mother Earth is not in good health", he concluded.    
Farmers in the Mbaw plain, Ndu, Tabenken and many other localities are said to have planted all their farms. In areas where the rains fell twice, the crops have shown signs of germinating while majority of the localities have fried their seed materials in the soil. Shey Julius expresses fear that the present situation could lead to serious famine given that fufu-corn is the most consumed meal in Donga Mantung Division. “By next week, if we don’t have good rain, then we will know that the gods are really angry at us” says Pa Tobias. The most serious threat however is that much is being talked about climate change but no adaptive measures are put in place to benefit the rural masses.They continue to look at climate change as a far off thing that can only happen in far off areas and not their communities

 



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