RURAL WOMEN IN THE FACE OF FOOD CRISIS IN MEZAM- NORTH WEST REGION OF CAMEROON

Mutations in the rural areas of Mezam have made agricultural production very challenging and resulting in food crisis. The women who make up the majority of the farmers’ population are faced with a lot of constrains which limits their potentials in production. The objective of this study is to examine the constrains faced by rural women in agricultural production in Mezam and the measures that can be put in place to redress the problem of food crisis. The study made use of primary data through questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. A sample size of 2% was drawn from the 31474 households in the rural areas of Mezam to administer the questionnaires for the study. Findings revealed that only 8.6% of the rural women have access to farmland against 48.2% who have conditional access and 43.2% who do not have access to farmland at all. Secondly, only 14.7% of the rural women have access fo capital for farming while 65.7% have limited capital and 19.6% have no capital for farming at all. Lastly, 58.6% of the women practice primitive farming systems which results in low outputs. However, 35% use modern farming methods and 6.4% practice advanced farming methods which are rather involved in the production of commercial crops at the expense of food crops which still results in food crisis. This confirms that the challenges faced by the rural women in production have greatly reduced yields and causing food crisis in Mezam. The suggestions advanced in this study will go a long way to empower the rural women in Mezam to have access to farmland, capital and modern farming technics for a greater productivity and food self sufficiency. KEY WORDS: Rural Women, Access, Food Crisis, Empowerment