The Problems Faced by the Local Farmers in the Management of Francolin Raids in Crop-farmlands in Muyuka Municipality, Southwest Region, Cameroon

Abstract

The major human activities that have transformed the Earth include agriculture and urbanization. There has been an enormous deterioration in bird populations of late, consequently many farmland birds are listed as endangered species. Francolin birds are known in the destruction of crop, especially the tubers like cassava, yams, cocoyams, and yams in Cameroon, yet no serious study has been carried out to mitigate this crises. Hence, the objective of this survey is to assess the difficulties faced by the local farmers in handling the francolin-crop damage in Muyuka municipality. A total number of two hundred and fifty questionnaires were administered to a population sampled of local farmers in the study area. The results obtained reveal that profession associates significantly with the best method used prevent bushfowl damage in crop-farms (χ² = 14.225 df=6, P<0.05). Inaddition, the survey has shown a very significant correlation link between the location areas of francolins and their crop-pest behaviour in farms (R² = 0.848, P<0.05). A significant correlation is also shown between gender and the best method used to prevent francolin birds from crop-farms (R² = 0.362, P<0.05). A respondent score of 82.04% recorded acknowledging that francolin birds are very serious crop-farmland pest in this community, necessitating its population control. The best method needed for the control of francolin population from damaging crop-farms recorded a respondent score of 46.53%, 27.76% and 25.71% for the use of traps, scarecrow and chemical spray respectively. This study requests the stakeholders in wildlife conservation and agriculture to jointly work in furnishing the local farmers with the best possible solutions to mitigate this crises in the community.