Boko Haram Violence, Climate Change Makes Africa Lose Rice Cultivation Tradition

The Boko Haram violence between militants and Cameroon's armed forces in the region had made it difficult for some farmers to access their fields in Cameroon's Far North Region. The region had been hosting 82,000 internally displaced individuals affected by the spillover of the insurgency in Cameroon and 75,000 Nigerians who had fled their country's Boko Haram conflict. The event had caused a food shortage in the region of 132,000 tons.

Climate change had been rendering the agricultural schedule gradually unreliable, making a crop yield an arduous task. Farmers of the region had been losing their crops and witnessing record drops in output for the past 15 years. They have no longer mastered the planting season. The rice cultivation even became delicate in Africa that when they missed the planting period slightly, they learned that the traditions passed on by their parents were no longer useful.

The Boko Haram violence forced farmers to try growing a wider range of crops, including  fast-growing and drought-resistant seeds. They also tried new methods of irrigation and relying more on weather forecasts. But the lack of meteorological stations and individuals trained to use them meant farmers were often frustrated by the lack of information they could use. The first forecast for the region produced was issued in January, and the second earlier this April.

That forecast predicted the sunny weather, mist episodes, and severe thunderstorms which would cause water stress and risks of meningitis, according to a feature from Voice of America.

Besides relying on the meteorological service, farmers also depended on international climate models, which had predicted below-average rainfall for the planting season. However, international experts warned that these models were not local and specific enough to help farmers make decisions.

The Boko Haram violence was not the only issue faced by farmers as the drying rivers greatly affected the availability of water for people and cattle in the area, according to a feature from Reuters Africa.