Rainfall Variation and the Vulnerability of Plantain Production in the Ntui Area in Cameroon

The present climate change has greatly impacted global agriculture. This situation has aggravated the present burning issue of the world food crisis. We are feebly or powerlessly observing the drying up of water bodies in valleys, the decreasing soil water table and, worst of all, our inability to converse or reverse the continuous degradation of biodiversity. The Ntui area incarnates the characteristics of areas all over the globe that are facing this problem. This study, therefore, stood out in researching the specific manifestations of climate variation, the influence of these variations on plantain, and farmers' adaptation strategies. Chronological time series data on rainfall and plantain production for the last 49 years were collected and analysed. The Methodology included the collection of data from secondary sources through the consultation of books, reports, thesis and dissertations, Journals, and topographic maps. The data were collected from fieldwork, including the administration of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. Findings revealed that there is a generally increasing rainfall pattern in annual and seasonal amounts, variability in the onset and termination of rain, and increasing duration of the rainy season with an increasing number of rainy days leading to an increase in rainfall intensities. Again, analysis from regressive lines indicates a sturdy complex and inverse relationship between inter-annual, 3 and 5-year running mean rainfall and plantain production trend with slightly low rainfall of more or less than 1200mm corresponding to years of high production. High CV values >8% indicate less reliable, which caused moderate production, while CV between 2% and 5% indicate fairly reliable rainfall, which led to fairly high annual production. Results from the T-test showed a 0.001 level of significance for a calculated value of 3.77 between the two variables, indicating a 99.99% probability that inter-annual rainfall variability influences plantain production. The various plantain farms have not remained inactive. They have, therefore, adopted an array of strategies to cope with this situation.