ABSTRACT

Market gardening is one of the agricultural sector that is fast employing people all over the world. Market gardening in upper Wabane of the Bamboutos mountain is not exceptional.It has employed many youths.The main objective of this study was to examine the challenges market gardening farmers in upper Wabane sub division of the Bamboutos mountain encounters The methodology made use of 130 questionnaires administered in 8 villages in upper Wabane complemented by key informant interviewed. Secondary sources included library, internet.Data was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively with the use of SPSS version 20 and the chi-squar to test the hypothesis. Results showed that there exist a strong positive relationship between natural drivers and market gardening and these drivers are the climate, soils and topography. It was equally noticed that market gardening challenges are mostly human factors and these are; Lack of access to credit, lack of technical knowhow, poor farm to market roads and scarcity of water. Faced with these challenges, the following strategies were identified; Formation of farmers cooperatives, creation of farmer’s bank, construction of farm to market roads, provision of assistance to farmers by the government, adjusting of planting season according to the rains. The study therefore recommends the need to improve and modernize agriculture through the provision of fertilizers at subsidized rate to the farming population and equally government intervention in price stabilisation.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 General introduction

Agriculture plays an important role in Cameroon’s economy as it contributes to the country’s export gross domestic product. It also serves as source of employment and a source of livelihood to many people. It equally serves as source of food and income to the population.

The total percentage of people employed in the agricultural sector in Cameroon was reported at 70% percent (ILO, 2020). According to the world bank,(2012) collection of development indicators compiled from official recognized sources Cameroon equipment in agriculture percentage shows that by 2023,76 percent of Cameroonians will be involve in agriculture.

Cameroon farmers are involve in the cultivation of different types of crops ranging from cash crops which involves plantation agriculture to food crop which could be subsistence or commercial. Subsistence agriculture is rampant where the farmers use crude methods of farming and harvest is low when compared to the area cultivated and is mainly for home consumption with little sent to the market. Commercial agriculture is mostly practiced by companies and yields are high as compared to subsistence farming. Small farmers equally do operates on small plots of lands and use fertilizers to improve productivity for commercialization especially vegetables. This is known as market Garden.

Market gardening is a relatively small – scale production of fruits, vegetables ,flowers ,carrots, cabbage, green pepper, green beans and tomatoes as cash crops  frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown small area of land. Typically from under 0.40 hectares or sometimes in green houses. Market gardening is sometimes called truck farming (Hanni, 2016). Market gardening is a business in Cameroon that provides a wide range and an early supply of fresh products through rainy and dry season. Unlike large, industrial farms, which practice monoculture and mechanization, many different crops and varieties are grown and more of manual labour and gardening techniques are used. The small output requires selling through such local fresh produce outlets as on farm stands, “buyam sellams “farmers-market community supported agriculture subscription, restaurants and independent produce stores. Labour is mostly obtained from household or family. Some gardeners with larger farms may take temporary workers to pick fruits and perform other tasks.

Market gardening is practiced in many parts of Cameroon. But different crops do well in different places. In the Western Highland, which covers the North West, the West region and parts of the south west ,market gardening crops that are commonly cultivated here include, cabbage, carrots , garlic, leeks, vegetables, green pepper, onion. Some of these crops are cultivated in upper Wabane on the southern slopes of mount Bamboutos. Just as any other agriculture sector in Cameroon, market gardening in upper Wabane faces a lot of challenges. These challenges ranges from pre preparation of the farm to cultivation and post-harvest.

   1.1 Background to the study

     For generations, market gardens have been of United kingdom fruit and vegetable production supplying fresh produce to the local area, creating jobs and contributing to regional culture. Historically, market garden business were passed down through family and had a strong influence in their local community (Rachel and Ben,2017).In Japan,200 vertical farms produce thousands of tons of vegetables every year in towers around ten stores high (Henin,2019). He added that around the world, there are numerous plans to build market gardening towers especially in China. Vertical agriculture is a technique that consist of growing vegetables in vertical stacks using hydroponics and aeroponics methods to supply water and nutrients to the plants. In the great greater Paris region, in Romainville, a vegetable farm has been created in a glass building (Henin, 2019).These has created jobs and increase the production of fruits and vegetables while using sustainable agricultural practices. In Asia, market gardening towers are fast involving as a result of increase in population and less available land (Henin 2019). Market gardening is commercial production of high-value crops such as vegetables, fruits, flower and other plants on a large scale than a home garden (Bechamann ,2009).This enterprise gives farmers the potential to increase their livehoods option and income (Bachamann, 2009) the main goal, as with all farm enterprises to run the operation as profitable business entity. Market gardening is oriented towards local markets although production for shipping to more distant market gardening is possible. Community gardens were initiated around the eighteenth and nineteen centuries where tropical vegetable cultural survived in remote areas (Griggs 1974). Generally, community gardens were meant to produce vegetable for family consumption and this was even in prehistoric time. Most of the farming was done after the rainy season when the soil were friable, thus easy to work on. This is quite pertinent because this is an activity meant to continue with farming after the rainy season when labour shift to this enterprise so as to augment income from crop sale.

For small market garden farmers, crops are cultivated for home consumption and with excess sold to local and distance market in most cases, farming is concentrated along River valleys for easy irrigation. Soils along river valleys are equally fertile alluvia deposit however, streams banks cultivation is quite a challenge. However there are deep walls, bore holes in some gardens near the urban centers (protor at al., 2000)

               Market garden production contribute to more than 10% of the total world’s output thus contribution to socio-economic transformation and general growth. (Montpellier, 2013).Market gardening production in Sub Sahara Africa (SSA) has been on a downward trend owing to unreliable power supplies, unavailability of formal credit high interest rates, there is limited infrastructure, lack market information, poor transportation, poor storage facilities, limited use of certified seeds and water shortage (the Montpellier panel, 2013). Largely in Sub Saharan Africa, rural development and farming in particular is constrained by unreliable, unusable and untimely information. Thus effective decision making becomes difficult due to dispersed and outdated information or data (Emkambo, 2018).Major market gardening crops grown in Africa are cabbage, onion, pepper, tomatoes, garlic, and carrot (Bachmann, 2009) Most of the farm produce is wasted between farm and consumers due to bad roads, fuzzy land tenure, traditional rights and spillage degradation due to limited or no storage facilities (Bachmann, 2009). In DRC, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda ,Senegal and Tanzania, challenges faced by market garden farmers are similar with fuzzy and often temporary tenure, evictions, in a nut shell, farmers lack security due to illegal sale of land scenario prevalent in Zimbabwe (F.A.O, 2012). The death of the Agro processing capacity in Sub Saharan Africa, in both urban and rural areas is blamed for post-harvest fruits and vegetables losses that are estimated to be half of the total production (Emkambo, 2018).Farmers prefer to sell raw fresh products as they do not have capacity to process them. This is due to the need for more income which is determined by marketing chain. Nigeria farmers keep the marketing short by selling directly to the public at the “farm gate” many in Dar es Salam do so from roadside-stalls and in Lusaka farmers transport their products to market by public transport, transport is not reliable in most African’s countries hence it is often down when farmers take their produce to the market (World Bank, 2013). They sometimes, get stranded their crops get withers and rot middle men known in Zimbabwe as “ecomos” make profit then the farmers. One of the major reason why market garden products are not easily exported is poor packaging by farmers (Emkambo, 2016). In Nigeria, markets are badly located, insanitary, heartily congested and lacking the physical facilities to handle large volume of produce and low returns to growers (Emkambo,2016).Zembabwe has witness an unprecedented decline of nearly all human (Emkambo,2016).

            Market gardening is carried out on all year round basis. It entails the collection of highly perishables which are consumed and or transformed within a relatively short period of time. In Cameroon, market garden is practiced on the slopes of Mount Cameroon, the Mungo and Benue depression, the Foumbot Plaines, Bamenda Highland including Santa, the Mount Bamboutos including the Southern part that covers upper Wabane. The main crops cultivated here includes Green beans, carrot, lettuce, cabbages, spices, vegetables, Irish potatoes under ample precipitation conditions (Jalo, 2008) If Cameroon maintains its position as the “Bread basket” of Central Africa, Sub region, today, one of the area to be credited is the slope of Mount Bamboutos especially for it market gardening crops which are not only consume in other parts of Cameroon but far on to other countries in the CEMAC region (Alangeh, 2013)

            In line with Sonchieu et al., (2019), in Cameroon, the mount Bamboutos area constitute one of the agricultural zone where market gardening is considerable. In this zone agricultural system remains traditionally based on combined production system destined for family consumption and marketing. Sonchieu et al., (2019) .Market gardening, that employs more than 80% of the rural population of the Mount Bamboutos area and contribute greatly to the country’s per capital income has been facing some challenges. These challenges include human and natural limitations such as malpractice  which include nocturnal harvesting of crops in farms, stealing of farms inputs, burgling of storage houses agricultural soils, lack of wet land positions to cultivated during dry season and others environmental problems such as deforestation, erosion of soil due to over farming and water bodies pollution (ERuDef ,2022). The communities involved in this farming practice in upper Wabane (Mt Bamboutos) include: M’mouck leteh,, Fonenge ,Magha, Asuala, Maleta ,Agong, and Fomeji.

1.2 Statement of the problem

            If Cameroon maintains its position as a “bread basket” of the Central African Sub region, one of the areas to be credited is the Western high lands particularly the area around Santa extending to the Bamboutos Mountain which is consider as a major production basin, particularly market gardening (Amawa et al., 2015). Low soil fertility is one of the major problems faced by farmers or small holders. Farmers in the Bamboutos mountain ecosystem (Njukeng et al 2021).Land degradation and soil erosion are significant environmental problems affecting agricultural productivity. Market gardening as a main type of farming,  encounters challenges that ranges from pre harvest to post harvest and thus has always led to poor harvest as compared to what is been invested in the farm. In line with Wendi et al., (2022), steep-slope agricultural landscapes are under threat due to climate change. Intensive rainfall always leads to high loss of the top soils. On the other hand, growing frequency of extreme high-intensity rainfall events concentrated in both temporal and spatial scale are causing flash floods or slope failure risk scenarios. On the other side, future climate projections indicate a significant expansion of arid zones in the steep slope agricultural system. There is evidence that these landscapes faces high risk of growing water scarcity for agricultural use.(Jinhua et al., 2020), maintenance that runoff and soil erosion are serious environmental issues in farm land management .Slope and crop both have significant effects on run off and soil erosion. Accelerated soil erosion rate is a major cause of land degradation unsuitable for agriculture since it can lead to loss of fertility and reduce agricultural yield and farmers income .Slope gradient naturally controls the pattern of agricultural productivity in developing regions though it role in determining the type of agriculture, yields and methods of cultivation that is practiced in any area (Hyacinth and Lawrence, 2015)

Non-farm activities have affected agricultural production through both labour and capital markets .The withdrawal of labour out of agriculture in to non-farm activities may negatively affect agricultural output, depending on the presence of surplus labour and extension of rural market perfection (Bardhan and Udry.,1999). Urbanization leads to continuous loss of agricultural land, both direct and under the form of land take, and indirectly, though the use of agricultural land for non-productive rural activities like recreation, horse keeping or hobby farming this urbanization processes put pressure on farmers, marking farming activities harder through reduce agricultural land, negative externalities and competition for land (Véronique et al., 2020)

     According to Laurylin, (2022) farms around the world , especially those owned or operated by small holder farmers, use traditional storage practices that are actually damaging their harvests, such as open warehouses or sheds often exposes harvested commodities to pest like inserts ,birds and mice. Exposure to this scavenger’s loss fruits, vegetables, grains damage and contamination .She added that common postharvest challenge is unexpected delays while transporting farm produce. Although the global supply chain has remarkably developed in the past decades ,there are still unforeseen events that delay the transportation of Agricultural produce such as poor road infrastructures, closure of boarders and ports .Such delays cause damage to the produce before reaching the markets.

          In line with Munge, (2009). Small Farmer are always facing challenges when it comes to land ownership. Land tenure system is highly practice in Africa and in Cameroon in particular land owners refuse selling their land or give them out to be exploited for agricultural purposes. Farmers equally faces serious problems with grazers especially in valleys during the dry season. This has leads to limited cultivable land.

Market gardening in upper Wabane faces several challenges. These challenges are already making some farmers to quite the activities. Since the main farming activities in this area is market gardening and the people source of livelihood, employment which generate them income and to the community and the country as a whole. The farming system need to be encouraged.

            With the numerous pre-harvest and post-harvest challenges encountered by market gardening farmers in this area and  looking at the importance of the activity to the community and the state as a source of employment and source of income, there is need to address these challenges. In order to solve these problems, it should be tackled from when the farmers initiate the idea to cultivate, to the preparation of the farm area, planting, treating, the crops harvesting up to the level of sending to the market.

            Also in this area, other sectors are correlated to market gardening; these include transportation of farm produce to the market. Petit trading where people are involved in the selling of market gardening farming input and some buying the produce to be sold in urban markets in the country and even in the CEMAC countries. There is equally the rearing of animals in this zone. Animal dumps are converted to compound manure and use in growing crops. These sectors related to market gardening should not be neglected looking at the importance of market gardening to the community of upper Wabane and the state of Cameroon. It is very important and this is the reason why the study challenges of market gardening production in Mountain ecosystem the case of upper Wabane in the South West region of Cameroon is evidential. Considering the existing challenges to market gardening in upper Wabane,a number of questions are  inherent.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Research Question

What are challenges of market gardening in the upper Wabane sub division and how are they managed

1.3.2 Specific Research Question

1. To what extent is market gardening driven by natural drivers
2. What are the different challenges faced by market gardening in upper Wabane?
3. What are the strategies put in place to ameliorate market gardening challenges in upper Wabane?
4. How will the challenges of market gardening impact the teaching learning process?

1.4 Research Objectives

1.4.1 Main Research Objective

To examine the challenges and improvement strategies  of market gardening in upper Wabane.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

1. To analyze different types of market gardening crops and drivers of market gardening in upper Wabane.
2. To examine the challenges faced by market gardening in upper Wabane
3. To identify the different strategies put in place to ameliorate market gardening in Upper Wabane.
4. To identify the impacts of market gardening challenges on the teaching and learning process.