Economics of Improved Seed Yam Production: Implications for Food Security in Cameroon

Abstract

<p>Agricultural research technologies are usually developed and disseminated to farmers with the ultimate goal of increasing productivity, raising farmers’ incomes and for food security improvement. The minisett seed yam is one of such technologies which has been disseminated to yam farmers across Africa and Cameroon since the 1980s. The technology consists of using healthy ware yam to produce large quantities of ‘clean’ or disease-free, low-cost seed yam. In Cameroon policy incentives and programmes have been put in place by the government to scale-up the adoption and successful use of the minisett seed yam technology with the intent of increasing yam yields and output, farmers’ income and, to improve food security. Agricultural research and extension reforms were also taken by the state, including the creation or restructuring of the curricula of state universities, agricultural research and extension programmes and the promulgation of seed production enhancing policies. The Cameroon government, in collaboration with international funding and research agencies and the private sector, allocated funds and expertise to implement these policies and programmes. However, despite this favorable policy environment, yam production and productivity in Cameroon still lags behind that of most yam producing countries in Africa. Access to quality planting materials is one of the major constraints facing the yam industry, however, the adoption and use of quality seed yam technology by farmers, and the benefits it could make towards revitalizing the yam industry in the country has not been investigated. This is especially so because no empirical assessment has been carried out which examines the performance of seed yam enterprises in Cameroon, or that evaluates the extent of use of the technology, or which assesses its impact on yam production and livelihood. The aim of this research is therefore to assess the economic importance of the minisett seed yam production technology and its contribution to food security in Cameroon. Specifically, the study objectives are: i) determine the extent of use or adoption of minisett seed yam technology, ii) examine the performance of minisett seed yam production enterprises and iii) determine the impact of the uptake of the technology on yam productivity and the household income of smallholder yam farmers in Cameroon.</p> <p>The results obtained using a two-part binary and fractional probit regression models (FRM) show that the adoption and intensity decisions are sequential and not entirely determined by the same factors. The common factors that negatively influence these decisions are farm size and person-day labour cost. The adoption and extent of use decisions are also positively driven by access to fertiliser. Unlike the decision to adopt the minisett seed yam technology, the extent of use of the technology was additionally influenced by training, hired and family labour. The extent of use of the technology was estimated at 0.14 thereby indicating that the adopters of the minisett seed yam allocate approximately 14% of their yam farm area for seed yam production. The probability and extent of adoption of the technology could be increased by 16% provided farmers have access to affordable labour and fertilisers. Training of farmers is also of prime importance to increase the extent of use of the technology. The services of existing community-based organisations could be used as labour saving mechanisms both for training, affordable labour services and outreach for farmers to adopt and use the minisett technique.</p> <p>The performance of minisett seed yam enterprises was examined using stochastic frontier production analysis. A translog stochastic frontier production function and inefficiency effects model were jointly estimated and model results show that the average level of technical efficiency of seed yam production enterprises was 62%. This indicates that there is significant opportunity to increase seed yam production by 38% using the farmer’s existing resources. Cropping system, fertiliser use, access to markets, expected price hikes of mature tubers and the experience of farmers, positively and significantly increase the technical efficiency of seed yam production whilst a lack of access to credit was found to be a limiting factor to performance improvement. These results highlight the importance of technical support and extension services, improving access to markets and pricing in order to enhance the productivity of smallholder seed yam farmers in developing countries.</p> <p>The assessment of the impact of adoption of minisett seed yam technology on yam yields and household income was done using various propensity score matching (PSM) algorithms. The results show that adoption of the technology has positive and significant causal effects on yam yields and household income of yam farmers in Cameroon. The results underscore the need to intensify and encourage the use of agricultural technologies to boost yam productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers. Good agronomic practices, access to inputs and more training - especially via farmers’ organisations - would enhance the impact of agricultural technology uptake on yam yields, incomes of smallholder farmers and implicitly then on food security and rural livelihoods.</p>