Relevance of New Crop Varieties and the Challenges Faced by Santa Farmers, North West Region of Cameroon

This study was designed to analyze the relevance of new crop varieties and the challenges faced by Santa farmers, North West Region of Cameroon. Primary data were collected from 115 farmers involved in the cultivation of new seed varieties using purposive random sampling techniques. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).The results showed that 45.8% of farmers’ main difficulty encountered for cultivating new crop varieties was difficulty in multiplying seeds successfully. Also, 25.2% of farmers complained of not having access to large lands needed for cultivation. Furthermore, the introduction of new crop varieties led to the gradual disappearance of local seeds which automatically changed many people’s eaten habits in Santa. Despite the challenges faced, the study found that 61.6% of farmers adopted new varieties because it increased their productivity. The results equally reported that new crop varieties equally attracted and employed majority (52.3%) of the youths from towns to villages for farming.The study strongly recommends that the government and other stake holders should focus more on providing means to which farmers can be able to multiply seeds successfully. When this is done, then farmers in Santa are sure of having seeds that can be multiplied easily without incurring so much loss. Hence, this will equally help farmers from buying seeds almost every planting season.