DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2018.v05i09.005

Pages: 504-514

Abstract: This article deals with the problem of sorghum farmers’ adaptation to climate hazards and water risks engendered by climate variability in Diamaré division in the semi-arid zone of Cameroon. The overall objective is to analyze the perceived main climate hazards and water risks as well as their consequences, then to evaluate the adaptation strategies adopted by the sorghum farmers, in order to propose ways for improving their resilience. The stratified random sampling method was used to select the sites, which consist of twenty (20) villages, and the sample, which consists of six hundred (600) farm household heads. After conducting focus-groups in ten villages and interviews with resource persons, the primary data were collected using a semi-open survey questionnaire. This study shows that the poor spatiotemporal rainfall distribution and the drought are respectively the main climate hazard and the main water risk faced by sorghum farmers in the area, with environmental, social and socio-economic consequences; It also comes out that these sorghum farmers are simply coping with the climate variability, but they do not really adapt to it; then, the lack of access to information and training about adaptation strategies, and the poverty, constitute the main constraints to the adoption of efficient adaptation strategies. In this case, improving the resilience of these sorghum farmers to climate variability must absolutely go through improving their access to agricultural innovations (especially agro-meteorological forecasting) and to training, and their socio-economic (poverty), environmental, and infrastructural conditions.