Assessing the effects of agroecology and conventional farming techniques on small-scale peasant farmers crop yields in the Fako and Meme divisions of Cameroon

Abstract

Small-scale farming constitutes a very important segment of the food production chain in most third world countries. In Cameroon for example, they constitute about 70% of the agrarian population. This study aimed at verifying the effects of agroecology and conventional farming techniques on crop yields in four sites in the South West Region of Cameroon from small-scale farms. Data were obtained through the administration of 200 questionnaires and two focus group discussions (FGDs). The data were analyzed using frequencies, means, coefficient of correlation, coefficient of determination, and linear regression models. The FGDs were also analysed using context analysis. All the analyses were performed in SPSS version 20 and Wordstat 7 software. The results showed that both agroecology and conventional farming techniques are used in the study sites but agroecology techniques are more responsible for yield increases than conventional techniques as seen in correlations coefficients and regression outputs. The only exceptions in which conventional farming techniques contribute more to yields was under income levels and the number of family members that live and work on the farm. This was justified by the fact that conventional techniques often require higher income levels since they are often purchased.

Perceptions of agrodiversity and seed-saving practices in the northern Andes of Ecuador

“…Research in other regions has shown that there are no clear conclusions regarding productivity between CS and NCS. Epule and Bryant [71] and Heilig and Kelly [72] argued that older bean cultivars ( P . vulgaris ) had a lower performance compared to modern commercial cultivars regardless of the production system, although some genotypes showed a better performance under organic production systems.…”

“…Productivity can vary across a large number of factors depending on the nature of the crops and species as well as the different environmental conditions, the crop’s conservation status [74], and human behavioral factors. The aforementioned human factors that affect productivity, including more attention paid by agroecological growers to small-scale gardens compared to commercial plots, could also explain differences in productivity and are related to farm size [71, 73].…”