Agricultural Calendar for the 2026 cropping season in the Guinea high savannah zone

INTRODUCTION
1.1. Context and justification
The 6th report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of 2022 confirms the evidence of climate change and its adverse effects on ecosystems and socio-economic sectors. This report reveals the high vulnerability of Africa to climate change and underlines the numerous risks and impacts that this continent is already undergoing (in the countries of the Horn of Africa, it is observed that extreme droughts lead to agricultural losses resulting in a lack of access to food for the populations). In 2011, 12.4 million people suffered from famine in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia (FAO, 2011). Thus, identifying solutions to the negative impacts on development sectors caused by climate disruption is becoming a priority for African countries.
In Cameroon, climate change is manifested through the disruption of the onset and end dates of the rainy seasons, the decrease in annual rainfall amount, the reduction of the number of rainy days, the multiplication of extreme climate events (floods, extreme droughts, violent winds, sandstorms
and haze, etc.), which are increasingly recurrent and catastrophic. The resulting impacts include disruption of agricultural and fisheries activities, the resurgence of plant diseases, the loss of biodiversity, the multiplication of conflicts over the management of natural resources, food insecurity,
population displacement and widespread ecosystems degradation.
Furthermore, the limited availability of reliable forecasting systems on climate hazards exacerbates the country’s vulnerability to climate change (PNACC, 2015; National Communications, 2005 and 2014; PAN-LCD, 2006; NBSAP, 2012).
Cameroon, aware of the stakes of this global phenomenon for its socio-economic development, has engaged in various processes related to climate change, notably the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adherence to the Kyoto Protocol and recently, the
signature and ratification of the Paris Agreement. To better monitor the commitments undertaken within the framework of 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 preventive, mitigation and/or adaptation measures 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 annual agricultural calendar. This calendar is a decision-making and advisory tool for agricultural activities and adaptation to the effects of climate change. The present document is a specific agricultural calendar for the
High Guinean Savannah Zone for the season from April to June 2026.