CODESRIA CONCEPT NOTE

UNIVERSITY OF BUEA





FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL
VETENARY MEDICINE ECONOMICS AND AGRICBUSINESS





'''FINANCING SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES IN CAMEROON: AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER-BASED FORMAL AND INFORMAL FINANCE MECHANISMS FOR FARMS IN THE SOUTHWEST AND LITTORAL REGIONS OF CAMEROON.'''



By


Ndive Epeti Likowo
B.Sc. (Hons) Economics
M.Sc (Hons) Economics





A PhD Concept Note Submitted to the CODESRIA College of Mentors For African Academic Diaspora Support to African Universities Program.
CODESRIA COLLEGE OF MENTORS
CONCEPT NOTE
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods for 40 percent of today's global population. It is the largest source of income and jobs for poor rural households. Women comprise on average 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, and over 50 percent in parts of Asia and Africa, yet they only own 20 percent of the land.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture is predominantly small-scale farming with more than 50 percent of the agricultural activity performed by women producing about 60-70 percent of the food in this region. While women provide the majority of the labor in agricultural production, their access and control over productive resources is greatly constrained due to inequalities constructed by patriarchal norms.
1.1 Background of the study
Agriculture still remains the backbone of Cameroon's economy, employing 70 percent of its workforce, while providing 42 percent of its GDP and 30 percent of its export
revenue. Blessed with fertile land and regularly abundant rainfall in most regions, Cameroon produces a variety of agricultural commodities both for export and for domestic consumption. Coffee and cocoa are grown in central and southern regions, bananas in South west region, and
cotton in several parts of Northern regions. In addition to export commodities, Cameroonian farmers produce numerous subsistence crops for family consumption. Principal food crops include millet, sorghum, peanuts, plantains, sweet potatoes, and cassava. Animal husbandry is practiced throughout the country and is particularly important in Northern region. (Encyclopedia of the Nations» Africa » Cameroon).

1.2 Abridged Literature Review
Ensuring that farmers have adequate access to financial resources is a key tenet of successful rural development strategies. Policy-makers have long understood that rural producers who cannot meet their needs for capital must settle for suboptimal production strategies. When producers are unable to make the necessary upfront investments or cannot bear additional risk, they have to forgo opportunities to boost their productivity, enhance their income and improve their well-being (Besley, 1995; Boucher et al., 2008, and; World Bank 2008a). Furthermore, without adequate access to loans or insurance, producers who face negative shocks, such as droughts, illness or a significant drop in the prices they receive, can lose some of the few assets they do have (Diagne and Zeller, 2001).
Conversely, producers who have access to well-designed credit, savings and insurance services can avail themselves of capital to finance the inputs, labour and equipment they need to generate income; can afford to invest in riskier but more profitable enterprises and asset portfolios; can reach markets more effectively; and can adopt more efficient strategies to stabilize their food consumption (Zeller et al., 1997). In the aggregate, broader access to financial services provides opportunities for improving the agricultural output, food security and economic vitality of entire communities and nations. Despite this widely accepted notion, rural financial programs have been largely designed, crafted and implemented with the male head of household as the intended client and fail to recognize that women are active, productive and engaged economic agents with their own financial needs and constraints.
1.3 Problem Statement
Even though millions of women throughout the world contribute to national agricultural output and family food security, detailed studies from Latin America, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa consistently indicate that rural women are more likely to be credit constrained than men of equivalent socio-economic conditions (Fletschner, 2009 and Diagne et al., 2000). In addition, lack of access to credit reduces a woman's agricultural efficiency and productivity. Credit
is important for securing fertilizer, improved varieties of seeds and other technology on farms. Most women farmers are not able to obtain credit without a male guarantor
or without husband's assistance. The disparity between farmers who do not and those who receive inputs, credit etc. is due to institutional barriers and social constraints. The perception that women produce crops for subsistence and not for the market, women's less secure land tenure and provision of credit through organizations geared towards men affect provision of credit to women farmers. A study on Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Sierra Leon found that women received only 10 percent of the credit for small holder farmers and 1 percent of total credit to agriculture [Mehra and Rojas 2008]. Thus, an agriculture development policy intended to create an all round development in rural Africa needs to be sensitive to financial needs of women in these subsistence societies.
Well-designed financial mechanisms that enable women to adequately save, borrow and insure against unexpected shocks are therefore essential in any efforts to strengthen women's role as agricultural producers and expand the set of economic activities they can undertake, the scale at which they can operate and their ability to benefit from economic opportunities. Yet, with the notable exception of a number of prominent microfinance programs, the vast majority of rural credit, savings and insurance programs do not take into account that women's legal, social and economic position in their communities differ from men's.
1.4 Research Question(s)
The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of finance on the survival, growth and productivity of women owned small and medium sized farm enterprises (SMEs) in the rural areas of the South West and Littoral Regions in Cameroon.
The designed specific objectives are to:
1- Establish whether finance leads to the growth of business stock and capital accumulation of women owned farm SMEs in the rural areas of the South West and littoral Regions in Cameroon.
2- Identify the problems associated with the growth of women owned small and medium sized farm enterprises in the rural areas of the South West and Littoral Regions in Cameroon.
3- Analyze the constraining factors to accessing finance by women farmers in the rural areas of the South West and Littoral Regions in Cameroon.
4- Investigate whether women farmers are discriminated against by financial intuitions when giving out finance to their clients in the rural areas of the South West and Littoral Regions in Cameroon.
5- Verify the effectiveness of existing formal and informal finance mechanisms to serve the needs of women farm enterprises in the South West and Littoral Regions in Cameroon
1.5 Summary:
It is quite clear that women's role in agriculture in sub Saharan Africa in general and Cameroon in particular is critical. In the early 1990s, there has been a growing recognition of women's role in agriculture and the impediments to their development. Research shows that if women are given similar access to resources and inputs as men, they stand to achieve equal or higher yields as that of men [Alderman et al 2003). From previous literature, it is observed that when properly harnessed, monitored and supported, formal and informal finance mechanisms can scale-up the agricultural productivity of women farmers. This study sets out to provide quality findings to verify this idea in the Cameroonian context so as to assist policy makers with valuable information on how to reform financial policies to better serve the financial needs of women farmers so as to improve productivity and increase food supply which in turn will combat food insecurity and malnutrition in Cameroon.
REFERENCES
Adegbite, E. (1995). 'Effective Growth and Survival of SMEs in Nigeria in the 1990s and Beyond: The Role of Policy. Ojo J. A. T (Eds) Management of SMEs in Nigeria. (Lagos)'. Concept Publishers, Chapter 7, pp 80 – 98.
Alderman, H., Hoddinott, J., Haddad, L. and Udry, C. Gender Differentials in Farm Productivity: Implications for Household Efficiency and Agricultural
Policy. 2003. In Quimsumbing, A. R., Household decisions, gender and development: a synthesis of recent research, ISBN 0-89629-717-9
Cameroon Full Country Note (2012), African Economic Outlook
Jump up ^Press release - UN General Assembly's Open Working Group proposes sustainable development goals, 19. July 2014
Jump up ^"Goal 2: Zero hunger". UNDP. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
Women and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_agriculture_in_Sub-Saharan_
Africa?oldid=728329310 Contributors: Edward, Gobonobo, Funandtrvl, AnakngAraw, FreeRangeFrog, John of Reading, Dewritech, BG19bot, John Cummings, OttawaAC, Diksha41, Khazar2, Jodosma, Hightops and Anonymous:

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