Climate change cuts plantain production, schooling

Climate change is reducing plantain yields and school attendance rates in Cameroon from 1991 to 2011, says a study.

According to researchers, the Central African region, where Cameroon is located, lacks studies on climate change social impacts. Therefore, researchers assessed temperature trends in Cameroon for the period 1950 to 2013. They also linked the impact of increased temperature changes to plantain growth and education using agricultural and educational data from surveys and government reports for 1991-2011.

The study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment last week (1 January) showed that plantain production in Cameroon decreased by 43 per cent from 1991 to 2011.

Trevon Fuller, the lead researcher and an assistant adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, United States, tells SciDev.Net that from 1950 to 2011, the average annual temperature increased by one degree Celsius.

Read the full story by Ngala Killian Chimtom on SciDev.net. Fuller previously shared the motive behind this research, and what it means for Cameroon and Central Africa, here.