Impact of Agricultural Practices on Vegetation Structure and Carbon Sequestration in the North Region Cameroon: The Case of the Lagdo District

Abstract

In order to preserve the For a good and sustainable management of vegetation in the Lagdo subdivision of the Benue division in North region Cameroon with respect to agricultural practices and the effects of climate change, a study on the impact of agricultural practices was conducted in six plant formations and three riparian villages. This study therefore assessed the impact of agricultural practices on vegetation with a focus on the assessment of plant population structure and quantification of sequestered carbon stock. Floristic surveys in six vegetation formations (forest galleries, shrub savannahs, tree savannahs, 2015/2016 crop fields, fallows of two (02) years and more than two (02) years on 50 m x 50 m plots were conducted. Floristic richness analysis identified 50 species across the surveyed sites, which were divided into 40 genera and 23 families. The most represented families in the sites are Caesalpiniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Combretaceae, Mimosaceae and Rubiaceae, which have 5, 4, 4, 4 and 3 genera respectively. The Shannon diversity index is highest in forest galleries (3.32), in wooded savannahs (3.04); medium in fallows of more than 2 years (2.33), 2-year fallows (2.21) and shrub savannahs (2.20) and lowest in crop fields. Regarding carbon sequestration, forest galleries have carbon stocks of 57.47 tC/ha, followed by shrub savannahs with stocks of 12.66 tC/ha and fallows of more than 2 years with 3.64 tC/ha. The crop fields (0.12 tC/ha) present the lowest values, however lower than those sequestered by shrub savannahs (1.03 tC/ha) and 2-year fallows (0.88 tC/ha). The results of the study on agricultural practices in the Lagdo subdivision therefore confirm the need for sustainable management of natural resources to combat climate change.