Farmers climate change perception and adaptation responses in Cameroon

Farmers climate change perception and adaptation responses in Cameroon | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Farmers climate change perception and adaptation responses in Cameroon Shey Ndogmi Yoniwo, Terence Epule Epule, Eric Jr. Bomdzele, Alec Forsyth, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7923467/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Climate change is a growing threat to agriculture, food security, and livelihoods in Cameroon, particularly for smallholder farmers who are central to achieving Sustainable Development Goals such as Zero Hunger and Climate Action. This study integrates climate data from 2000 to 2023 with survey responses from 256 farming households across three agroecological zones (AEZs) to compare farmers’ perceptions with observed climate trends, identify the drivers of climate risk perception and adaptation, and document adaptation strategies and constraints. The results show a statistically significant warming trend across all zones, partially aligning with farmers’ perceptions. Although annual rainfall trends were not significant, perceived changes may be linked to significant decreases in April rainfall, a critical month for planting and crop maintenance. Farmers also reported declining yields, reduced water levels, recurrent drought and changing crop seasons. While 80 percent of the farmers observed climate change, only 52 percent adopted adaptation strategies. The Heckman selection model revealed that access to weather information and farm size drive perception, whereas adaptation is influenced by wealth status, market access, gender, household status, family labour, and postharvest conservation practices. Importantly, AEZs significantly shape both perception and adaptation decisions, with distinct strategies and constraints emerging across zones. These include expanding cultivated land, adopting short-season maize, increasing pesticide use, crop diversification, and agroforestry. Financial constraints, lack of information and labour shortages remain key barriers. The study concludes that perception alone is insufficient for adaptation and calls for zone -specific interventions to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of Cameroon’s agricultural sector. Climate change smallholder farmers risk perception adaptation strategies agricultural sustainability Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryFilesDiscoverSustainability.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7923467","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":547171048,"identity":"aa8fa431-0bc7-4dc6-8b7e-43e29fc4040d","order_by":0,"name":"Shey Ndogmi 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Cameroon","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":true,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Climate change, smallholder farmers, risk perception, adaptation strategies, agricultural sustainability","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7923467/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7923467/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eClimate change is a growing threat to agriculture, food security, and livelihoods in Cameroon, particularly for smallholder farmers who are central to achieving Sustainable Development Goals such as Zero Hunger and Climate Action. This study integrates climate data from 2000 to 2023 with survey responses from 256 farming households across three agroecological zones (AEZs) to compare farmers\u0026rsquo; perceptions with observed climate trends, identify the drivers of climate risk perception and adaptation, and document adaptation strategies and constraints. The results show a statistically significant warming trend across all zones, partially aligning with farmers\u0026rsquo; perceptions. Although annual rainfall trends were not significant, perceived changes may be linked to significant decreases in April rainfall, a critical month for planting and crop maintenance. Farmers also reported declining yields, reduced water levels, recurrent drought and changing crop seasons. While 80 percent of the farmers observed climate change, only 52 percent adopted adaptation strategies. The Heckman selection model revealed that access to weather information and farm size drive perception, whereas adaptation is influenced by wealth status, market access, gender, household status, family labour, and postharvest conservation practices. Importantly, AEZs significantly shape both perception and adaptation decisions, with distinct strategies and constraints emerging across zones. These include expanding cultivated land, adopting short-season maize, increasing pesticide use, crop diversification, and agroforestry. Financial constraints, lack of information and labour shortages remain key barriers. The study concludes that perception alone is insufficient for adaptation and calls for zone -specific interventions to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of Cameroon\u0026rsquo;s agricultural sector.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Farmers climate change perception and adaptation responses in Cameroon","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-20 16:02:01","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7923467/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"dd3bf584-0c81-47d3-9d86-9f5385d04a17","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 20th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-11T12:26:06+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-20 16:02:01","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7923467","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7923467","identity":"rs-7923467","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}