GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Changes in Agricultural methods have intensified continuously ever since the Industrial Revolution, and even more so since the “green revolution” in the middle decades of the 20^th century. At each stage, innovations in agricultural techniques brought about huge increases in crop yields by area of arable land. This tremendous rise in food production had sustained a global population that had quadrupled in size over the span of one century.[1] As the human population continued to grow, so too was the amount of space dedicated to feeding it. According to World Bank figures of 2016, more than 700 million hectares (1.7 billion acres) were devoted to growing corn, wheat, rice, and other staple cereal grains nearly half of all cultivated land on the planet.[2]

In the coming decades, however, meeting the demand for accelerated agricultural productivity is likely to be far more difficult than it has been so far. The reasons for this have to do with ecological factors. Global climate change is destabilizing many of the natural processes that make modern agriculture possible. Yet modern agriculture itself is also partly responsible for the crisis in sustainability. Many of the techniques and modifications on which farmers rely to boost output also harm the environment.

Worldwide, agriculture accounted for about 70 percent of human consumption, a deal of this is redirected onto cropland through irrigation schemes of varying kinds. Experts predicted that, to keep a growing population fed, water extraction may increase an additional 15 percent. Irrigation agriculture supports the large harvest yields that such a large population demands. Many of the world’s most productive agricultural regions like California’s Central Valley to Southern Europe’s arid Mediterranean basin, have become economically dependent on heavy irrigation schemes.[3]

A huge amount of agricultural territory was used primarily as pasture for cattle and other livestock. In the western United States, counting both federally managed and privately owned grazing lands, hundreds of millions of acres were set aside for this purpose. Agricultural livestock was responsible for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, most notably methane. In addition, overgrazing was a major problem regarding environmental sustainability.

In the Bamunka communities, agricultural practices were only successful in some areas partly due to the availability and application of fertilizers on the cultivated lands. It should be noted that, fertilizer application containing nitrogen and phosphorus was at the heart of the intensified farming especially after the World War II era. Modern agriculture has become heavily dependent on these chemical inputs, which have increased the number of people the world’s farms can feed. They are particularly effective in the growing of corn, rice, beans and other crops such as cocoyam and yams.

While these chemicals have helped double the rate of food production in Bamunka, they have also helped bring about a gigantic increase, perhaps as high as 600 percent, of reactive nitrogen levels throughout the environment. But then, some efforts are still being made by natural bacterial to increase the rate of soil nutrients for agricultural cultivation and practices.[4]

It should be noted that, the drivers of agricultural transformation in Bamunka are multidimensional, interrelated, and change over time, but they can be organized into categories to provide a better opportunity for pragmatic diagnostics and decision making on national priorities. According to research findings, farmers in Bamunka are in two main categories; elements of “transformation readiness and drivers related to delivery mechanisms”. This category focuses on what is needed to translate the national agricultural plan into on-the-ground impact. This includes the ways in which farmers in Bamunka manage decision making and progress against targets as well as how they use change agents to support the large-scale behavior change among smallholder farmers that underpins a successful agricultural transformation.[5] With these agricultural changing mechanisms put in place in Bamunka, it has resulted to sounding implications which is this researcher sets out to examine in the this research work.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

In the course of proper understanding, some key concepts will be better explained for proper clarity. Some of the key concepts includes agriculture, social change, economic change and development. The term agriculture has been a subject of varied opinions among scholars for a long time. The definitions of agriculture vary with the predispositions of writers. Varied as the definitions may be, people generally agree that agriculture is the key in the rise of sedentary civilizations whereby, the farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurture the development of civilization.

Agriculture is the use of land to products for human and animal consumption and for the creation of some industrial raw materials for economic activities. It can be argued that agriculture is the most important economic activity. It engages 2/3 of the world’s population and supplies the primary products essential for livelihood. Agriculture also called farming or husbandry which is the cultivation of plants, fungi animals and other life forms for food, fiber, biofuel, drugs and other products used to sustain and enrich human life.

According to Rubenstein, the term agriculture is the deliberate effort to modify a portion of earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain. Agriculture is an applied science which encompasses all aspects of crop production including horticulture, livestock rearing, fisheries and forestry’s.^[6]  This economic activity was largely practiced in Bamunka and almost every household was very much involved. The community cultivated food crops and reared animals which in most cases involved the cultivation of crops like rice, maize and beside other things involve fish hunting by both kids and adults as well.

Not left out is Rimando who contends that agriculture is the systematic raising of useful plants and animals under the management of man^[7]. Agriculture is the growing of both plants and animals for human needs.^[8] Agriculture is the deliberate effort to modify a portion of the earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock’s for sustenance or economic gain which is largely practice in Bamunka as a means of survival for both the families and the community at large.

Agriculture is the art and science of growing plants and other crops and raising animals for food and other needs or economic gains.^[9] The proceeds of agriculture could either be for domestic consumption or exchange with monetary alternatives. In such a situation agriculture in both spheres sustained the food sufficiency in Bamunka. Agriculture is a broadly equated with farming, which includes cultivation of crops and rearing of livestock. Climate, soil, relief and location of markets influenced agricultural practices.

Concern in economic development evolved or intensified as a challenge to or means to break the vicious circle of the poor nations of the world. In other words, some countries are not poor just because they were meant to be poor. Development economists sought means to eradicate characteristics of the least developed nations such as: existence of general poverty reflected in low living standards; especially in remote areas like Bamunka were the living standard is relatively low, underdeveloped natural and human resources, underemployment, insufficiency of capital and technological backwardness coupled with absence of enterprise and initiative^[10]. Others include economic dualism, characterized by the co-existence of a market economy and subsistence economy with domineering foreign enclaves; predominance of agriculture with demographic features characterized by high dependency ratio as is the case of the Bamunka community^[11]. A need for sustained growth and general improvement in welfare and socio economic wellbeing, has called for the following views on economic development and growth.

Development in human society can be looked at from different dimensions. At the individual level, it can be considered as an increase in skills and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline and material well-being. At the group level, development may be taken to mean increased capacity to regulate internal and external relationships.^[12]The economic history of developed countries shows that the development process involves whole scale economic, social and administrative reforms, perceptible change in attitude of the people to work, serve and to invest.

According to a 1991 World Bank Development Report: Development is conceived as a multidimensional process involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes and national institutions as well as the eradication of poverty. The 1991 report took a broader perspective of the concept of development. It asserted that the challenges of development is to improve the quality of life which calls for better education, higher standards of health and nutrition, less poverty, more equality of opportunity especially in the world’s poor countries.^[13] Thus, development represents a complete system of change through which an entire social system turns to diverse basic needs and desires of individuals and social groups with a system moving from widely seen unsatisfactory towards a situation of life seen as materially better which is seen generally in Africa and Cameroon as a hall but also within the Ndop community in particular where it is self-evident.

Thirwall^[14] and Todaro^[15] explains development as a secular rise in real national income accompanied by change in social attitudes and customs which have in the past impeded economic advance”. They manifest that development must therefore be conceived of as “a multidimensional process involving changes in structures, attitudes and institutions as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality and the eradication of absolute poverty while improving the quality of existing physical and human resources”. This are situations which are generally faced in the Bamunka community although with the coming of the UNVDA certain structures had been improved like bridges, roads, employment and many more the Bamunka communities still face a lot of underdevelopment.

Rostow ^[16]and Gillis^[17]contend that development refers to a process of economic growth within an economy, with the central objectives of the process being higher and rising real per capita income for that economy. That economic development is the rise in per capita income. It implies fundamental changes in the structure of the economy. Countries that enter into economic development usually pass through periods of accelerating economic activities. A key element of economic development is that the people of the country must be major participants in the process that brings about the changes in structure.

The transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture was often referred to as commercialization of agriculture which has long been considered an important part of the agrarian transformation of low income economies and a means of ensuring food security, enhanced nutrition and enhanced incomes.  Commercialization is seen as a common and powerful means to increase rural household income and food access as well as diversity production and reduce risks of income and food shortfalls Commercialization among small holder farmers is assumed to lead towards more specialized production systems which are based on comparative advantages in resource use.

Theoretical Framework of the Study

In the course to realize this study, a series of theories are examine and analyze to give a better impetus to this study. Some of these theories are;

The Regulation Theory (RT) used the sectoral scale to better understand the diversity of capitalism and its transformations on agriculture.[18] This theory states that; Agriculture and agri-food sectors contributes to forging the concept of economic regime at the sectoral scale.[19] The theory highlighted the emergence of new economic regimes in the agricultural and agri-food sectors in a more liberal capitalist world. This theory also focuses on market institutions, the new forms of competition, and relations between supply and demand on a national and European scale, in relation to the emergence and then the evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This theory fits in the context of Bamunka as the agricultural activities carried out there are motivated by the capitalist factor of profit maximization. But the theory fails to examine the fact that agricultural practices could be caused by the need for food and diets and not only for profit maximization as the reason for agriculture in Bamunka.

Population Pressure Theories (PPT) of Boserup, states that; “a growing population provided the impetus for the development of intensive agriculture”. Some archaeologists have long argued that hunter-gatherer economies continually evolved to accommodate growing populations. The ever-expanding need for increased food supplies as a result of population growth eventually led to the adoption of farming.[20] Therefore, the reasons majority of the population in Bamunka is highly involved in agriculture was to attained to the needs of the ever growing population of the communities in and around Bamunka. Conversely, other factors may also encourage agricultural improvements and activities in an area which may be the capitalist tendency as highlighted by the regulation theory.

The Marginal Zone Theory (MZT) of Binford explains the emergence of agriculture as response to cyclical population pressure on the edges of the Nuclear Zones.[21] This is a systemic theory that focuses on the relationship between population pressure, environment and subsistence strategies. The theory assumes that “human groups normally exist in balanced equilibrium with their physical environment. They do not normally intensify their food supplies and live normally in a state of systemic balance where change is the exception. Thus they keep their numbers below the carrying capacity of their food resources”.

Childe’s Proto-Agriculture Theory stares that; “the most suitable land for cultivation is often found on the alluvial soils deposited where intermittent torrents flow out from the hills onto the plains and in the valleys of rivers that periodically overflow their banks … and so in the Eastern Sudan, the Hadendoa scattered millet seeds on the wet mud left by the Nile flood every autumn and just waited for the crop to sprout.”[22] It should be noted that, the Bamunka area which is largely found in the Ndop plain is a draining basin of the mountainous surroundings of the plain. To that effect, the alluvia soil that is washed down the basin is suitable for agriculture, thus the reason why agricultural activities are enormous in Bamunka.

Statement of the Problem

Bamunka because of the unique environmental and edaphic factors has remained an exemplary community for agricultural practices par excellence. This important community due to its uniqueness in terms of geographic characteristics attracted varied minds who in one way or another carried out agricultural activities and practises. The outcome for these activities was either for consumption or for commercialisation.  Accordingly, it has attracted a lot of immigrates into the area as it contributed to the socio-economic development of the community. This has provoked both indigenous and non-indigenous populations to seized the opportunity and are involved in agriculture. The rich network of rivers and the availability of a dams in some localities have made farming lucrative and productive. But the question one is tempted to as is; what were the various agricultural practices carried out in Bamunka, and what were the socio-economic fallouts that these activities left behind in the Bamunka community?   

Research Questions

In the course to realise this study, both a central and sub research questions were developed. The central research question for this study is; what were the agricultural practices that were carried out in Bamunka and how did it influenced the socio-economic development of the community? The subsidiary research questions are;

• How has the geography and history of the community influenced agricultural practices in the area?
• Which agricultural practices were carried out in the Bamunka community?
• What were the socio-economic impacts that these agricultural activities brought to the Bamunka community?
• What were some possible challenges faced and attempted solutions to agricultural practices in Bamunka?

Objectives of the Study

In the course of the study, both a central and sub objectives were developed out of the research questions. The central objective for this study is to examine the various agricultural practices that were carried out in Bamunka and the soccio-economic impacts of these activities to the community of Bamunka The concomitant objectives of the study are;

• To examine the geography and historical setting of the community and how it contributed the socio-economic development of Bamunka.
• To evaluate the many agricultural practices carried out in Bamunka.
• To assess the socio-economic contributions that these agricultural activities have contributed to the Bamunka community.
• To spotlight the impacts and possible solutions that this sector faces in the community of Bamunka.

[1] Food and Agriculture Organization: Global agriculture towards 2050.

[2] Ibid.

[3] R. MANAGE, Agricultural Technology Management Agency. (Hyderabad: NATP Series, 1999), 2.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Rubenstein M.J, The Cultural Landscape, An Introduction to Human Geography”7^TH Edition (Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson Education Inc, 2003), 496.

[7] Rimando T.J, Crop Science 1: Fundamental of Crop Science (Up los Banso: University Publication Office, 2004), 1.

[8] Abellanso A.L and H.M Pava, Introduction to Crop Science (Central Mindanao University: Musan Bukidon Publication Office, 1987), 238.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Divine Achenui Nwenfor, “Coffee Economy in Tubah Sub-division, 1934-2015 Evolution and Socio-Economic Implications”, (MA Dissertation, University of Yaoundé 1, 2014).10.

[11] Ibid.

[12] W. Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Washington D. C., Harvard University Press, 1982). 10.

[13] MIDENO Archives, File No. B2/2003, “World Bank Development Report, Development Possibilities in Sub Saharan Africa”, 1991. 15.

[14]A. P.Thirwall, “Growth and Development with Special Reference to Developing Economies”, (London, Longman, 1978). 35.

[15] M.P. Todaro, “Economics for a Developing World”, (London, Longman Group Publishers, 1977).15.

[16]R.W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (London: Macmillan Publisher, 1958). 4.

[17] M. Gillis et al, Economics of Development (New York:W.W. Norton and Company, 1987). 7.

[18] R. Boyer & Y. Saillard (dir.), Théorie de la régulation. L’état des savoirs, Paris, La Découverte 500‑510.

[19] Ibid.

[20] E. Boserup, The Conditions for Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. (Chicago: Chicago University press, 1965), 56.