Agricultural calendar for the 2023 cropping season in the Guinean high savannah agro-ecological zone

INTRODUCTION
1.1. Context and justification
The 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of 2022 confirms the evidence of climate change and its adverse impacts on ecosystems,
socio-economic and development sectors. This report particularly reveals the high vulnerability of Africa to climate change and underlines the numerous risks
and impacts that the continent is already experiencing. In the countries of the Horn of Africa, it is observed that extreme droughts lead to agricultural losses
causing a lack of access to food for the populations. In 2011, 12.4 Milletlion people were suffering from famine in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia (FAO, 2011).
Thus, the search for solutions to the negative impacts on development sectors due to climate disturbances is becoming a priority for African countries.
In Cameroon, climate change is manifested, among other things, by a disruption of the start and end dates of the rainy seasons,a decrease in the amount
of rainfall, a poor distribution of the number of rainy days, and the increasingly recurrent and catastrophic increase in extreme weather situations (floods,
droughts, violent winds, sandstorms and haze, etc.). All these effects of climate change have as their corollary the disruption of agricultural and livestock activities,
the resurgence of crop pathologies, the loss of biodiversity, conflicts in the management of natural resources, food insecurity, population migration and the
degradation of ecosystems.
The lack of forecasts and baseline information on these hazards increases the country’s vulnerability to climate change (PNACC 2015, National
Communications 2005 and 2014, PAN-LCD 2006, NBSAP 2012).
Cameroon, conscious of the stakes of this global phenomenon for its socio-economic development, has committed itself to climate change mitigation and
adaptation processes, notably the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the adherence to the Kyoto Protocol and, very
recently, the signature and ratification of the Paris Agreement. In order to better monitor the commitments it has made under the above-mentioned Conventions
and Protocols, the Head of State created and operationalized the National Observatory on Climate Change (NOCC), and entrusted it with the main mission of
« monitoring and assessing the socio-economic and environmental impacts of climate change, and proposing measures for prevention, mitigation
7
www.onacc.cm – Email: infos@onacc.cm www.minader.cm
and/or adaptation to the adverse effects and risks associated with these changes ». Thus, the Observatory, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development (MINADER), produces an agricultural calendar each year. This calendar is a decision-making and advisory tool for agricultural activities
and adaptation to the effects of climate change. For the season from April to October 2023, an agricultural calendar specific to the Guinea High Savannah zone
has been produced.
This zone covers the Adamawa Region which is characterized by permeable, red or brown ferralitic and hydromorphic soils. The main agricultural crops
grown in this area are cereals (maize, Milletlet and sorghum), tubers (yams, potatoes, cassava and cocoyams) and perennial crops (cocoa and coffee).