"Chaire Pierre Castel: Systèmes Alimentaires et Entrepreneuriat en Afrique" is an incubator and accelerator of prospective promoters of business creation projects in the realm of agriculture

Agriculture and food security negatively intersect with weather and climate conditionsthrough extreme events such as droughts and heat waves, floods and storms. Adverseweather and climate conditions directly affect agricultural productivity, livelihoods, watersecurity, land use, agricultural marketing systems, market instability, food prices, tradeand economic policies; and the impacts fall disproportionally on resource-poor smallproducers including inter alia smallholder farmers, fishers, livestock herders and forestdependent communities. Nearly 90% of staple food and feed production come fromrainfed agriculture including mixed crop-livestock and rangeland-based livestocksystems, and lack of investment in this vital production system and its low productivityreinforce each other leading to poverty traps and increased vulnerability of livelihoods torainfall variability, dry spells and other climate-related risks. The situation is exacerbatedin arid and semi-arid climate change hotspots in Africa, wherein agricultural systems arebecoming less reliable as ecosystems are degraded and the relevant structures in place tosupport smallholder farmer’s effort are often absent. Smallholder farmers and livestockkeepers, whether pastoral herders or ‘mixed’ crop-livestock farmers, are essential to development destinies in sub-Saharan Africa, where the world’s poverty and hungerremain the most concentrated. Supporting small-scale farmers and livestock keepers toadapt to climate and other changes will require judicious policies, appropriatetechnologies, adequate infrastructure and access to information, all to be provided bycountries with an arena of low socio-economic resilience and scarce resources to do so.Silver bullets won’t work. Every option enhancing resilience, diversification or riskmanagement in given regions and circumstances may likely fail in others. The context isdecisive as local circumstances determine what works and what doesn’t.

Research Fellow in Agriculture and Sustainable Development with the Nkafu Policy Institute.

The Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology carries out research and education in topics related to interactions between humans and their social and spatial conditions. This takes a holistic approach to solving complex societal problems in rural settings. The Department explores new research areas that generate new options for equitable and productive agriculture to improve food and income security for poor smallholder farmers in rural setting of Cameroon. The research core of the department is of the opinion that appropriate food security interventions have the potential to achieve sustained improvements in household food security as well as the nutritional well-being of vulnerable members of the population.

Research, teaching and outreach

Toward territories with less green house gases emissionsand more resilient to climate change Stories from the Municipality of Bangangté, West Region ofCameroon

Independent expert hired to perform the scientific evaluation (Excellence, Impact and Implementation) of the proposals submitted in response to the SFS-43-2017: Earth observation services for the monitoring of agricultural production in Africa call for proposals, issued on the basis of the work programme H2020- Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy – and to attend the Societal Challenge 2 evaluations for the call SFS-2016-1 to act as independent expert in the consensus meeting at the European Commissions’ Research Executive Agency in Brussels

Program officer (consultant) hired to provide analysis of gaps and technical backstopping to The African Union Commission (AUC)/Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA). 2014 was declared and proclaimed by the 19th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of States and Government as the Year of Agriculture and Food Security and marking 10th Anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP, 10 Years on!)

Review of research and policy for adaptation to climate change in AfricaExpert to undertake review for the urban sector in Central Africa.

Research awardee, consultant January 2011 – Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) programThe International Development Research Center (IDRC) Regional office, Dakar, SenegalTop 10 Awards Granted through competitions (http://intranet.idrc.ca/en/ev-160778-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html)- Performed research management and grant administration- Undertook independent research project on vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in Semiarid climate change "hot spot" area of Cameroon

Technical assistance for the implementation of the International Master in Mineral and Environmental Engineering (IMMEE) at The National Advanced School of Engineering (ENSP) Polytechnic YAOUNDE

MSc student in International Master for Rural Development - EU Erasmus Mundus programme