RURAL MUTATIONS IN MEZAM AND AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY (North West Region of Cameroon)

Rural mutation in Mezam have largely affected agricultural production. Agricultural yields have been declining as reflected by the rising prices of food items in the markets in Mezam. Our objective in this study is to examine how rural mutation have affected agricultural production in Mezam and to suggest some strategies to meet up with sustainable production. The study exploited both secondary and primary sources like questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. A sample size of 2% was drawn from 26167 households in the rural areas of Bafut, Bali, Santa and Tubah to administer the questionnaires for the study. Findings revealed that rural mutations have caused the emergence of non agricultural activities at the expense of agricultural production. A greater proportion of the population is engaged in motor bike transport (32%) followed by trade (24%) and agriculture coming the third position(23%). However, 11% are involved in non agricultural primary activities , 7% are involved in industrial and 3% in other activities like hair dressing, money transfer services and so on. Secondly, the mutations in the rural areas of Mezam have reduced agricultural land as confirmed 68% of the respondents against 8.1% who held that mutations have increased cultivable land. Over 23.9% are of the view that agricultural land have not changed. Lastly, the mutations have affected agricultural labour as 71% of the respondents confirms a reduction. On the other hand, 24.1% holds that there is no change while 4.9% says that farm labour has increased. All these have accounted for the declining agricultural production in Mezam. Given that this activity is the backbone of most rural areas, some recommendations are advanced in this study in order to adapt the mutations in meeting up with food security and improving living conditions in the rural areas of Mezam. KEY WORDS: Rural Mutation, Agricultural Production, Agricultural Sustainability.