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Maize Production Responsiveness to Land Use Change and Climate Trends in Cameroon

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  • Terence Epule Epule

    (Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal, Pavillon 520, ch. de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Local 332-3, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, QC H3C 3J7, Canada)

  • Christopher Robin Bryant

    (Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal, Pavillon 520, ch. de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Local 332-3, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, QC H3C 3J7, Canada)

Abstract

Most studies on the responsiveness of maize production to various variables have dwelled on the responsiveness of maize production to variations in precipitation or temperature. This study seeks to verify the response of maize production in Cameroon to both climate trends and land use change. Therefore, for the first time, our study presents findings on the relative influence of both climate and land use change on maize production in Cameroon. The data used in this analysis are essentially time series data spanning the period 1961–2006. The data on quantity of maize produced, area of maize harvested and number of maize seeds planted was taken from (http://faostat.fao.org). The mean maize growing season temperature and precipitation data were collected from the 0.5° × 0.5° gridded collaborative datasets of the UNEP and the School of Geography and Environment at Oxford University and from the global crop calendar dataset. The data were analyzed using the average rate of change, detrended simulations, the multiple linear regression technique, correlation coefficient and the coefficient of determination. The results show that maize production in Cameroon is more likely responsive to land use change (forest area change) than rainfall and temperature. However, for the climatic variables, maize production is more responsive to temperature variations than precipitation. In other words, the greater the land use change (forest area loss) the more likely the long run losses in the current maize production gains while rising temperatures were found to be more suitable for maize production. Even though the 1990s marked the period of recovering rainfall levels in most of the Sahel, large fluctuations were still recorded.

Suggested Citation

  • Terence Epule Epule & Christopher Robin Bryant, 2014. "Maize Production Responsiveness to Land Use Change and Climate Trends in Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2014:i:1:p:384-397:d:44163
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mekou Bele & Anne Tiani & Olufunso Somorin & Denis Sonwa, 2013. "Exploring vulnerability and adaptation to climate change of communities in the forest zone of Cameroon," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 875-889, August.
    2. Wenjiao Shi & Fulu Tao, 2014. "Spatio-temporal distributions of climate disasters and the response of wheat yields in China from 1983 to 2008," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 74(2), pages 569-583, November.
    3. Wenjiao Shi & Fulu Tao & Jiyuan Liu & Xinliang Xu & Wenhui Kuang & Jinwei Dong & Xiaoli Shi, 2014. "Has climate change driven spatio-temporal changes of cropland in northern China since the 1970s?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 163-177, May.
    4. Epule Epule & Changhui Peng & Laurent Lepage & Balgah Nguh & Ndiva Mafany, 2012. "Can the African food supply model learn from the Asian food supply model? Quantification with statistical methods," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 593-610, August.
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