Management Of Agro-Pastoral Crisis In The Northwest Region Of Cameroon

The expansion in farmlands and settlements over the years has led to a contraction in pastureland for the increasing livestock number. This has led to the depletion of the natural resources needed to sustain livestock production coupled with the climate change saga. The formerly fertile uplands have been depleted and both livestock and farmers are massively moving towards the valleys for survival. This development has drastically changed the people-land relationship and balance in the lowlands which has resulted in severe agro-pastoral conflicts, especially across the North West Region.

This has been seen between farmers and graziers over the farm and pasture lands, grazier and grazier over limited pastureland, and farmers and farmers over limited fertile lands. Among these conflicts, farmer-grazier conflicts have become perennial in the past decades, and farmers are always found in the midst of court cases which at times do not favour them.

This has led to the proposition of conflicts management options which if properly follow may yield some fruits. Agro-pastoral conflicts are still difficult to manage in this area due to many factors; political influence, increasing human population, ethnic differences, climate change, the economic interest of the local population and stakeholders, and worst of all, the issue of overgrazing in some villages.

These conflicts which manifest through fighting/clashes, loss of lives and the destruction of property, mass out-migration, disturbed peace and stability and reduced development are caused by a number of factors, they include, among others, the conquest spirit of most communities, poor land demarcation and population increase, land degradation, land tenure system and the migration to hollow frontiers. SPEF is out to work with the administration and design strategies to have a permanent to the agro-pastoral crisis across Cameroon.