Use of No-till System on Straw by Cotton Producers in Cameroon

Abstract

Field surveys using questionnaires administered among cotton producers semi-openly were done in three cotton zone of Cameroon, Laïndé Massa in the North, Kilwo in the Far North and Tapi in the Adamaoua regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the degree of appropriation of direct-seeding mulch-based cropping (DMC) systems, identify the problems that influence this appropriation and the consequences of no-appropriation in the cotton zone of Cameroon. The result showed that producers of the study sites were facing several difficulties which impeded the appropriation of DMC systems. These difficulties were landownership issues, financial difficulties resulting in significant financial means necessary for the implementation of DMC systems, the decrease in a radical way of subsidies from the ESA (Eau-Sol-Arbre) project, the difficulty in repayment of loans contracted during agricultural campaigns at the SODECOTON and high land rental costs. The consequences of no-appropriation of DMC systems were the continuous degradation of agricultural soils and decline in soil fertility, due to the acceleration of water and wind erosion, the clean of fields by fire and the practice of inappropriate farming techniques. The model of diffusion of DMC systems in family agriculture proposed by the ESA project cannot be generalized and applied to different contexts and must take in different causes of its no-appropriation identified here for its adoption.