Abstract

Agriculture has been crucial in enabling the people of the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon to satisfy their subsistence. They have consistently observed ritual practices aimed at sustaining agricultural production and protecting the environment. These agrarian rituals constituted an integral part of indigenous agriculture and food systems that hinged on ethics, creativity, and innovation. Communities across the region had values and constantly changing practices accruing from their ingenuity which had a bearing on the way they interacted with nature to obtain food. This chapter uses African agrarian ritual practices that were deeply embedded in African worldview to demonstrate the connection between religion and agriculture. It argues with empirical evidence that these rituals, informed by indigenous agrarian values, contributed to local food security and environmental protection. The chapter opens with a contextualization of Bamenda Grassfields’ indigenous belief systems and agrarian thought as a means of interpreting the origins of agrarian rituals. This is followed by an analysis of rainmaking and planting rituals which are usually performed at the beginning of the farming season. The chapter further discusses the celebration of bountiful harvest through rituals as indicative of food security. Finally, the crucial role of these rituals in ensuring conservation of the environment is examined. This study suggests that a new emphasis be put on agrarian rituals as a defining feature of African agrarian philosophy because of their unending bearing on the success of agricultural endeavours and their capacity to control ecological conditions in ways that contribute to environmental protection.