by Mélanie Ekutchu – farmer from COPACO PRP
Description
Climate change has severely affected the country, having as major impacts:
- Decreased rainfall, droughts, environmental degradation, deforestation.
- Flooding of crops, disruption of agricultural calendars, lower water levels in some rivers which dry up due to deforestation and human pressure; extinction of some animal species.
- protected areas devastated by poachers; appearance of certain crop pests (locusts).
- Economic and social effects, such as:
- Loss of small producers due to lower yields.
- Decreased willingness to produce due to environmental risks, lack of savings by small farmers.
- Low income due to loss of production; poor quality of production materials; difficult access to basic social services (health, education, etc.).
- Rising food prices due to lower production, leading to food insecurity.
As a result, farmers have started to introduce resilient crops, agro-ecological methods and organic insecticides. In addition, they have integrated the technique of crop rotation, crop association, planting of cover crops and reforestation into their strategy to cope with climate change.
Among the practices to bear in mind are:
- COPACO’s agro-ecological centre, which serves to share experiences, notably the production of good quality seeds, good agricultural practices, etc.
- Phytosanitary measures, using tobacco as an insecticide, insect repellent, fungicide and acaricide by applying 0.1 litre on 10 m² for 05 days with a sprayer or a branch. Repeat regularly to control aphids, caterpillars, mites, viruses, leaf curl etc.
- Crop succession.
Results
- Small-scale farmers produce sustainably on the same areas and achieve good yields using agro-ecological methods. COPACO’s farmer agroecology allows each farmer to cultivate 2ha during his lifetime by subdividing it into 8 plots cultivated by rotation. The production resulting from this practice is shared between self-consumption and sale.
- Practice of fruit growing with medium-term crops.
- Sustainable provision of food; development of improved fallow to ensure food security.
Climate smartness*
Education plays an important role to collectively overcome local agricultural challenges under changing climate conditions. In this case, COPACO serves as an agroecological lighthouse, contributing to small-scale farmers to disseminate their knowledge and experiences across the community. Under the food security perspective, the results presented depict how transition to sustainable production, turns out to be not only a healthy and profitable pathway, but also implies benefits for biodiversity and the environment. The latter is interlinked with the strengthening of the adaptive capacity of the agroecosystem and the farmers in socio-economic terms. To reveal mitigation benefits in this initiative, it is important to consider direct and indirect interactions and effects related to the functioning of the different production system in the study area. For example, a transition from conventional to sustainable/agroecological pests and diseases management approach, integrating both traditional and scientific knowledge, has the potential — along with other agronomic practices addressed such as crop rotation and intercropping — to trigger reductions in the agricultural carbon footprint, by reducing emissions associated with the manufacture, transport, application and disposal of synthetic pesticides.
*This is done in the framework of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach. Climate-smartness in agriculture means understanding impacts of climate change and variability along with the agricultural activity, which includes the planning of what crop to plant, when to plant, what variety to plant and what type of management practices are needed to reduce the impact on the environment (e.g. emissions reduction), maintain or increase productivity (e.g. yields) while increasing resilience and improving livelihoods.