ASSESSING CROP DIVERSITY IN THE WETLANDS OF THE EASTERN PART OF BAMENDJIN DAM, CAMEROON

Crop diversity is central in nutrition and food security, supporting the world with about sixty percent of total world’s protein. Over time, the close to 5000-7000 crops have reduced to a record of approximately 10 species dominating global food provision sometimes due to drivers of change like land use. This work was conducted as main objective, to assess the crop diversity within the wetlands of the Eastern part of the Bamendjin Dam in Bangourain and Kouoptamo Subdivisionss. The methods deployed in this study were the key informants’ consensus, focus group discussions and on-site field observation. The results showed that 87 species of crops were cultivated among which there were 150 varieties co-existing with the Dam. Assessing the diversification of the crops revealed majority of the farmers cultivated an average of six crops within their holdings. These crops belonged to 30 families of which the Solanaceae dominated with the highest number of species while the Fabaceae recorded the highest number of genetic diversity. The crops were grouped into 13 categories following their predominant parts used. When they were assigned into various frequency classes, it provided a reverse J shape. Ranking of the varieties according to their cultivation rate showed that Zea mays was the most cultivated crop within the wetland. Evaluating the local taxonomy of the local communities in identifying species revealed that morphological traits like color overshadowed. When these traits were exemplified in the varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris which recorded the highest varieties, it revealed that the local communities mostly used colors, shape, size and height to distinguish varieties of a given species.