International Conference on Integrated Systems

1. What drives
agroforestry adoption
in Cameroon?
Degrande Ann1, Chiatoh Maryben1,
Nimino Godwill1, Ngaunkam Precilia1,
Franzel Steven2 and Place Frank3
(1) World Agroforestry Centre, West and Central Africa/Humid Tropics,
Yaoundé, Cameroon
(2) World Agroforestry Centre, Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya.
(3) International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC, USA
HumidtropicsInternationalConference,Ibadan|Nigeria,
3-6March2015

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Objective of the study
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusion
• Research and Policy Implications

3. Introduction
• Importance of understanding adoption:
– document progress in disseminating new practices,
– improve efficiency of the technology development
and dissemination process,
– provide farmer feedback for improving research and
extension programmes,
– help identify policy and other factors contributing to
successful technology development and constraints
limiting the achievements
Franzel et al. (2001)

4. • Growing body of literature on adoption:
– biophysical characteristics of technologies,
– individual and household conditions of farmers
– institutional context in which adoption of
innovations takes place
• challenging to understand adoption of
innovations in a way that would help design
better extension systems

5. Objective of study
Agroforestry technologies
in humid forest and
savannah zones of
Cameroon:
- Fertiliser trees and shrubs
- Fodder trees and shrubs
- Tree domestication:
- Tree propagation
- Tree integration
- Value addition and
marketing of tree products
Objectives of study
• to analyse adoption of
agroforestry technologies
by farmers in humid
forest and savannah
zones of Cameroon
• to develop
recommendations to
accelerate adoption

6. Methodology
Step 1: Division into
strata reflecting agro-
ecological zone and
market access –
factors hypothesised to affect
adoption of AF

7. Relay Organizations – Community-Based extension services
• boundary-spanning actors (NGOs, CBOs, farmer associations) that link research
organisations like ICRAF, and farmer communities
• disseminate innovations to farmers using demonstrations, training and technical
assistance, after which farmers provide feedback and by so doing, help develop
the innovations further
Step 2 : Choice of relay
organizations (ROs)
=> In each stratum defined
above, at least 1, where
possible 2 ROs were selected;
giving a total of 12 ROs
Agro-ecological zones Market access
Good Poor
Sub-humid savannah: West
region
2 1
Sub-humid savannah: North-West
region
2 2
Forest mono-modal rainfall:
Littoral and South-West regions
1 1
Forest bi-modal rainfall: Centre,
South and East regions
1 2

8. Step 3: Selection of study villages
2 factors affecting adoption rate of innovations
promoted:
H1: distance from RO
=> 2 axes, 3 radii (15, 30, 45 km from RO)
H2: extension efforts from RO
=> 3 villages with intervention (‘project’ village), 3 without
intervention (‘control’ village)
30-45km15-30km0-15km0-15km
km
15-30km
km
30-45km
km
R
O
V3
V2V1V4V5V6
V = VillageRO = Relay organization
X2X1
X1 = Axis 1 X2 = Axis 2
R3R2
R1R2
R3
R = Radius

9. Step 4: Selection of study households
• List of households
residing in village (with
key persons and
administrative
authorities)
• 15 households per
village randomly
selected
• 10 interviewed per
village; total: 720

10. RESULTS
- What agroforestry practices are adopted?
- Who is adopting?
- How does dissemination of agroforestry practices take
place?

11. What AF practices are adopted?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Soil fertility
management
Fodder
trees/shrubs
Tree
Propagation
Integration
of improved
trees
Collective
Action in
marketing
Post-Harvest
of AFTPs
Numberofrespondents(%)
AF Techniques
Project village
Control village
More recently introduced
innovations such as collective
action in marketing of
agroforestry products and
post-harvest techniques
were more commonly
adopted in project villages
than in control villages

12. Who is adopting?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Heard about AF Heard about TD Planted
improved trees
Numberofrespondents(%)
Project village
Control village
Action
Awareness
= ‘ADOPTION’

13. Adoption by gender
• more men than women
had heard about
agroforestry
• the proportion of men
(51%) and women (53%)
that heard of tree
domestication was not
very different
• men adopted tree
domestication more than
women
• similar trends in project
and control villages

14. Involvement in AF practices
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Soil fertility
management
Fodder
trees/shrubs
Tree
Propagation
Integration of
improved
trees
Collective
Action in
marketing
Post-Harvest
of AFTPs
%ofrespondents
Agroforestry Practices
All
Male & female adult
Children
Female adult
Male adult
Male dominated AF
practices
Female dominated AF
practices

15. Adoption by agro-ecological zone
• Awareness does not
automatically lead to
planting of improved
trees
• Great differences in
adoption of specific AF
practices between agro-
ecological zone
– Soil fertility and fodder
shrubs/trees more in
humid savannah
– Collective action and post-
harvest more in humid
forest
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Heard about AF Heard about TD Planted
improved trees
Numberofrespondents(%)
Humid Forest Bi-modal
Humid Forest Mono-
modal
Humid Savannah West
Humid Savannah
North-West

16. How does dissemination takes place?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
%ofrespondents
Sources of agroforestry information
project
village
witness
village
LOW:
GOVERNMENT
HIGH:
NGO/RO
HIGH: Fellow farmers

17. Farmer-to-farmer exchange of
knowledge and training
• 86% provided information
about AF to others
• 54% trained others
• Some AF practices are more
difficult to train others on
• Information shared with:
– fellow farmers in the village
(72%) or outside the village
(14%)
– household (6%) or other
family (8%) members
• Men (84%) and women
(87%) were equally active in
sharing agroforestry
information
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%ofrespondentswhotrained
Agroforestry Practice
Male
Female

18. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

19. CONCLUSION
• No meaningful differences in terms of age of HH head,
HH size, farm size, experience with farming or wealth
indicators between adopters and non-adopters
• What facilitated adoption significantly:
– membership in farmer organisation,
– Contact with extension services,
– Exposure to agroforestry information.
• Farmers, men and women, share knowledge with
fellow farmers within and outside their village, though
to different extent depending on technique

20. Policy Implications
• Importance of
grassroots extension
mechanisms and
farmer-to-farmer
dissemination
• Strengthen the role of
CBOs in agroforestry
extension
• Encourage exchange of
information and skills
between fellow farmers

21. Thank you
For more information: a.degrande@cgiar.org
International Fund
for Agricultural
Development