Abstract
This work assessed the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) change on the socio-economic conditions of the inhabitants in the Mount Bambouto Caldera from 1980-2016. To achieve this, three time series satellite images; Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) (1980), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) (2001), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) (2016) scenes were employed to investigate the changes in LULC. The use of satellite images was supplemented with individual interviews, discussions with focus groups and key informants, and direct field observations. Five categories of LULC classes were identified namely: thick woody vegetation (natural forest and oil palms), light vegetation (croplands), savannah (grasslands), buildings (settlements), and bare grounds. The results showed that between 1980 and 2016, croplands, buildings and bare lands increased by 4%, 0.43% and 5.7% respectively while savannah/grassland and natural forest decreased by 4.4% and 5.8% respectively. Household survey revealed soil fertility decline and lack of credit schemes to be major constraints to crop production. Many religious holidays contribute to seasonal food shortages and the community faces a host of socio-economic and institutional challenges. Consequently, majority of house-holds are destitute, live in abject poverty; which is an indication of the need for interventions by government and other development stakeholders to tackle the problems of soil fertility, land use change and food insecurity.
Highlights
Concerns of land use and land cover (LULC) change and soil fertility problems in agricultural systems in Africa are factors that pull the attention of many researchers, and have been winning the interest of top policy makers in recent times [1] [2]
The quest for diverse products in order to diversify incomes sources, and soil fertility decline over time exacerbated by constant landslides in the rainy season are the propelling factors behind farmers changing part of their land to other forms of land use
The declining soil fertility, which is primarily caused by soil erosion and regular cultivation coupled with the lack of financial capacity for its restoration account for the majority of the household food insecurity in the area
Summary
Concerns of land use and land cover (LULC) change and soil fertility problems in agricultural systems in Africa are factors that pull the attention of many researchers, and have been winning the interest of top policy makers in recent times [1] [2]. LULC changes such as conversions of grasslands to croplands, fallowing croplands, and the change of infertile croplands to oil palm plantations are being practised as mitigative measures against the negative impact of soil fertility decline in Cameroon [7]. The high demand for palm oil in cities for consumption and biomass energy production and improved price of cocoa at the world market in recent years have further exacerbated the transformation of current natural forest, wetlands and marginal lands into plantations [9] [10]. Land use change is gaining importance as land conversion practices are becoming more frequent in many parts of the country
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
