Extreme weather patterns affecting rural farmers in Campo.

It was because of the bounty harvest that she resolved to engage in large scale cultivation this year. But things have not turned out as planned for the mother of four, who is yet to come to terms with the drastic changes.  
“Last year, the harvest was really good. There was a lot to harvest in my farm. It was one of the best harvests I have had. I do not know what is going on this year,” Agon said.
Agon went further to add that: “Climate change-induced temperature extremes have caused the corn in my farm to dry off quickly before it is time for harvest.  Other crops like tubers, and vegetables have not been able to grow well”.  
She was among a multitude of women in Campo, Ocean Division of the South Region of Cameroon, who staged an agric show to celebrate their best harvest. It was organised to celebrate the resilience of the farmers and motivate farmers, who had been reluctant to embrace agriculture, to join them. 
Six months later, the excitement is not the same. The stores of these farmers are still empty and the harvest is not looking good due to extreme weather conditions.  
Agon’s story is not in isolation. Like her, there are several farmers who are feeling the brunt of extreme weather patterns as a result of climate change with almost every family in Campo being affected.
Mama Ngono Emilia harvested several tubers of yam from her farm last year.  She admitted that “since I embraced agriculture, I have never harvested good yields like this”. Despite the same efforts and investment she had put in this year, her harvest will not equal that of last year but shall suffer from a significant drop.

Dealing with a new crisis
The presence of wildlife in farms that consistently ate up crops had been a nightmare for inhabitants of Campo.
This frequent occurrence of human-wildlife conflict has led to loss of property like farmlands, destruction of crops, livelihoods and even life.
Today, farmers in Campo are confronted with a new challenge.
Extreme weather patterns are posing enormous difficulties across the largely dependent agricultural community, but especially small scale farmers who have limited funds to deal with the inconsistent weather.
Until recent times, the severity of extreme weather conditions on agriculture in Campo had been largely ignored. Today, extreme weather conditions have affected cropping cycles, yields and sales.
Villagers now complain that extreme heat waves cook their crops and fry their harvest while excessive and unpredictable rainfall, they say, has also been a problem to deal with.
“Extreme weather conditions have made it harder to work. Our crops wilt and sometimes die. At first, we knew when to expect rain to start the planting process. When we first saw the first rain, most of it was planted. But most, if not all of our crops, were washed away. It was a difficult situation for us. We do not know what to do,” Ngono lamented.
As climate change and particularly extreme weather patterns worsen for farmers in Campo, they are increasingly left to try to make crops grow under such conditions with very little success.

Families on the brink of hunger
Extreme weather conditions are having a severe impact on the livelihoods, income of impoverished rural farmers and food security in Campo.
Several families cannot feed. Others have been pushed closer to the brink of hunger, malnutrition and misery.
“It is increasingly difficult for some families to feed these days. If the crops from the farm do not do well, how can they feed themselves? Some of them cannot rotate meals because they do not have the luxury to do so,” Ngono explained.
“We have the capacity to cultivate diverse crops here but with the variation in weather, we are facing enormous difficulties. This is causing us a lot of socio-economic constraints,” Ngono added.
Like other farmers, Ngono is also worried about her family. It is only thanks to the produce from her farm, her lone source of income, that she is able to feed and take care of the needs of her family members who have settled in a nearby village.
“At the end of every month, I used to send foodstuffs to my family in the village. It has been difficult to meet up with their needs. The quantity and quality of the foodstuffs I send to them has drastically reduced,” Ngono said.
In the markets, prices of basic commodities are soaring every day. The exorbitant prices of some foodstuffs have scared many families away. Market sheds are empty and customers are hard to come by.
“There are some people who manage to harvest but there is no one to buy. Some of us are forced to sell. We invest a lot, harvest few and are forced to sell at such prices to cover the cost,” a market vendor, who pleaded to remain anonymous, told The Guardian Post.
Extreme weather conditions also have a transboundary effect. Some nationals of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea, who visit the markets frequently, are forced to go back empty-handed, disappointed. Some of them have complained about the prices of some commodities, while others are preoccupied with the quality of what they are purchasing.

Looking forward
There has been a struggle to adapt to the weather variations in the area. Some farmers have abandoned their lands while a few who continue to muster the challenges, are on a constant search for a solution. 
According to Ngono, it has been difficult for smallholders and large scale farmers in the region to deal with the effects of the extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. According to Ngono, they do not have the capacity to react and survive. 
She told The Guardian Post in an interview that most of the women are not educated. She went further to add that due to this, they are able to make use of the recent technological advancement. Even when they received information from the National Climate Change Observatory, which could help them, it is difficult to interpret and put into practice.
“This is a strange phenomenon for most of us. We rely heavily on the climate for our crops to grow but it is the same climate that is causing untold misery,” Ngono revealed.
However, some strides have been made. Women who make up the vast majority of farmers in Campo have come together in an association known as AFRiSC-Campo to share knowledge on best agricultural practices.
Thanks to the support of Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Green Development Advocate, GDA, these farmers have been using the skills and knowledge acquired to salvage the situation.
These farmers are taught how to mitigate the effects of climate change to boost agricultural productivity. They are also encouraged to adopt agroecology, which they said, is a sustainable way to maximize yields and fight food security and safety.
Also, the government, through the representative of the Divisional Officer, DO, of Campo, Ntari-bou Vingedou, said that despite the spate of challenges that these women continue to face in the agricultural sector, it remains committed to support them and ameliorate their standard of living through agriculture.

This report was produced as part of the Media for Climate Action grant supported by Actions for Development and Empowerment (ADE) and financed by the French Embassy in Cameroon and Conseil Nouveau Sommet Afrique-France (NSAF Council).