Resource Allocation for Cocoyam and Coffee Production in Momo, North West Region of Cameroon

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1 Kamla-Raj 2013 J Hum Ecol, 41(2): (2013) Resource Allocaton for Cocoyam and Coffee Producton n Momo, North West Regon of Cameroon Dorothy E. Fon Department of Agrcultural Economcs, Unversty of Dschang, Cameroon Telephone: (237) , Fax: (237) , E-mal: dengwal@yahoo.fr KEYWORDS Cash Crops. Food Crops. Cobb-Douglas Functon. Returns to Scale. Competton ABSTRACT In the North West Regon of Cameroon, cocoyam and coffee crops are smultaneously cultvated on the same pece of land creatng an allocaton problem of labour and captal resources. Hence, ths study ams to determne the ntenstes and productvty n the usage of labour and captal for cultvatng the two crops. Usng a multstage random samplng desgn, 120 farmers were selected for the study. Data was collected on famly sze, age of respondent, level of educaton, farmng experence, output of coffee and cocoyam, farm sze and labour used n terms of mandays. The feld data were analysed usng descrptve statstcs and Cobb-Douglas producton functon. Descrptve feld results showed that, there was no sgnfcant dfference n usage of labour and captal for cocoyam producton, whle coffee producton was captal ntensve. Output for cocoyam was dependent on labour and captal. Results from Cobb-Douglas producton functon showed an ncreasng return to scale for cocoyam and a decreasng return to scale for coffee wth respect to both the labour and captal nputs. One percent ncrease n the ntenstes of labour and captal led to only 0.33% ncrease n coffee yeld. Hence, the study recommends that labour and captal should frstly be allocated to cocoyam producton where they are more productve. 1. INTRODUCTION Lke n most developng countres, the Cameroon s economy depends manly on agrculture. About 60% of the country s populaton stll lves n the rural areas wth agrculture beng ther man occupaton (World Bank 2009). Snce the ndependence of the country n 1960, cash crops and food crops consttute the man speculatons of the farmers n all regons of the country (Defranc 1995). In most households, the cash crop s cultvated to earn ncome for basc needs (schoolng, health care, funerals, etc.) whereas the food crops are manly cultvated for the subsstence of the famly (Defranc 1995; Mnstry of Agrculture 2002). The North West regon does not make any excepton snce farmers of ths part of the country produce cocoyam as the man food crop for famly survval and coffee as the man cash crop to be sold n order to solve famly problems (schoolng, health care, funerals, etc.) (Tempelman 199; Mnstry of Agrculture 2002). Hence, for a better lvng standard for the people n the area, the producton of both cocoyam and coffee s mportant because cocoyam s the staple food crop and provdes food for consumpton, whle coffee as the predomnant cash crop, serves as the major source of ncome. Usually, the labour force of the populaton of ths regon s manly devoted to cultvate these two man crops necessary for ther survval and lvng dependence (Mnstry of Agrculture 2002). However, the hgh motvaton of ths labour force to cultvate the two man crops (cocoyam and coffee) s hampered by poverty that prevals among rural farmers. As a matter of fact, about 40% of the Cameroon s populaton (ncludng people from North West regon) lves below the poverty lne thereby lackng captal to nvest nto agrculture (World Bank 2009; Mnstry of Agrculture 2002). Poverty s really a serous problem to the regon because, n spte of the wllngness of the rural farmers to work n the farmng sector, they lack enough money to nvest n agrculture. Hence, captal remans another man lmtng factor of producton n ths regon (Defranc 1995; Mnstry of Agrculture 2002). The economcs lterature (Heady and Dllon 1961; Doll and Orazem 197) already suggests labour and captal as the two man factors of producton. However, the evdence from the feld n the North West regon rather fnds the two resources as scarce. In the rare crcumstances when the two resources are avalable, the problem of ther allocaton between the two man crops of the regon (cocoyam food crop and coffee cash crop) remans a dffcult challenge. Hence, t s a great problem for farmers to know where emphass should be enforced n the allocaton of labour and captal n order to secure

2 176 DOROTHY E. FON hgher producton from those two crops n the regon. The study was therefore desgned to analyse the resource allocaton (especally labour and captal) n cocoyam and coffee producton n Momo dvson of the North West regon of Cameroon. In order to acheve that goal, the study addressed the followng research questons: 1. What are the ntenstes n the usage of labour and captal resources n the producton of cocoyam and coffee? 2. What s the effect of the ncrease n the ntenstes of use of labour and captal resources? Study Objectves In general, ths study seeks to determne the ntenstes and productvty n the usage of labour and captal for cultvatng the two crops. More specfcally, the study ams to: 1. Calculate the ntenstes n the usage of labour and captal resources n the producton of cocoyam and coffee. 2. Compute and analyse the returns to scale assocated wth the use of both labour and captal for cocoyam and coffee producton. 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS 2.1 The Study Area and Data Collecton Momo Dvson, North West regon of Cameroon s the case study area. It s located between lattudes 5 45' and 6 45' N and longtudes 9 40' and 10 10' E. It s made up fve subdvsons namely: Batbo, Mbengw, Nge, Njkwa and Wdkum. Food crops nclude cocoyam, yam, banana, plantan, maze, cassava, groundnut and vegetables. It has the pattern of ranfall that dctates the farmng season. Cash crops nclude coffee, ol palm and kola nuts. Multstage random samplng was used for the study. In stage one, there was a random selecton of two cocoyam and coffee producng subdvsons out of fve dvsons In stage two, three vllages (Efah, Guzang, Mbunje, Bess Fomunkong, Nchum, and Nforya ) were selected randomly from each of the two sub dvsons (Batbo and Mbengw) ntally selected. In stage three, 20 farmers were chosen randomly from each of the three vllages. Ths gave a total of 120 respondents/farmers for the study. A set of structured and pre-tested questonnares was used n data collecton. The questonnares provded nformaton on sources of land for cocoyam and coffee producton, labour allocaton for the dfferent farmng operatons n cocoyam and coffee producton and the tools/equpment used n cocoyam and coffee producton amongst others. 2.2 Data Analyss The economc model commonly used to determne the relatonshp between the varous factors and the output n agrculture s a producton functon. A producton functon s a mathematcal equaton showng the maxmum amount of output that can be realzed from a gven set of nputs (Doll and Orazem 194). The economcs lterature suggests three man types of producton functon: lnear, sem-log and Cobb-Douglas (Heady and Dllon 1961; Doll and Orazem 194). The three types were frstly tred n ths study and among them, the Cobb- Douglas was preferred manly due to ts convenence n estmaton whch employs an Ordnary Least Squares (OLS) technque, ts smplcty n the nterpretaton of coeffcents (the coeffcents of ths functon represent the elastctes of producton, easer to nterpret) and ts perfect nputs substtuton property (Doll and Orazem 194). The mathematcal form of the Cobb-Douglas producton functon used here s gven by the followng formula:...(1) Implctly, the equaton may be expressed as: Y= f (X 1, X 2, X 3, X 4, X 5, X 6, X 7, X )+U..... (2) where, Y = output of cocoyam or coffee (physcal terms); X 1 = age of the respondent (farmers) X 2 = Famly sze X 3 = Level of formal educaton of the farmer (years) X 4 = Farmng experence (years) X 5 = sze of the farm (cocoyam or coffee) (ha) X 6 = Labor used on the farm (cocoyam or coffee) (Mandays) and X 7 = Captal X = coffee type; 0 for arabca, 1 for robusta. b o = constant term b 1,2 = Elastctes of output wth respect to X where = 1, 2,, U = random dsturbance term The coeffcents b 1 to b of the model n equaton (1) represent the producton elastctes of co-

3 LABOUR AND CAPITAL ALLOCATION FOR CROPPING IN CAMEROON 177 coyam/coffee yeld wth respect to the factor nputs. Hence, each coeffcent b s defned as the percent change n output for 1 percent change n the th factor. In a Cobb-Douglas producton functon, the sum of these coeffcents b s the degree of homogenety, whch measures whether the producton functon under- goes constant, ncreasng, or decreasng returns to scale. Three possbltes mght exst: b 1, there s constant return to scale of cocoyam/coffee producton to nputs; b 1, there s decreasng returns to scale of cocoyam/coffee producton to nputs and, there s ncreasng returns to scale of b 1 cocoyam/coffee producton to nputs. In order to acheve the study objectves, two sets of hypotheses were formulated n ths study: (1)-All the factor nputs have a postve mpact on cocoyam/coffee producton. The hypothess can be stated as: H o : b 0 aganst H a : b 0 (2)-The sum of the coeffcents of technologcal nputs (labor and captal) s equal to unty. Ths hypothess can be formulated as: H o : b 6 +b 7 =1, aganst H a : b 6 +b 7 >1 In order to test these hypotheses, smple descrptve statstcs and more mportantly a double-log regresson analyss was performed on the data to estmate the relatonshp between cocoyam/coffee and the dfferent factor nputs. Hence, the estmated regresson equaton drectly dentfes the returns to scale of cocoyam/ coffee producton by summng the coeffcents of labor and captal. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Descrptve Feld Results Land for cocoyam and coffee producton can be nherted, purchased, leased, obtaned as a gft or s communal (Fon 2011). The dstrbuton of cocoyam and coffee farmers accordng to the source of farmland for cocoyam and coffee producton s presented n Table 1. Results from the table shows that most of the land used n cocoyam producton (93.1%) and coffee producton (5.4%) was nherted. Communal land s not used for coffee producton because of ts relatvely long gestaton perod. Snce coffee requres relatvely large plots of land and t s not an annual crop, whch can be changed at the end of one farmng season, the source of land for ts producton was prncpally through nhertance and purchase. In cocoyam producton, leasng was an mportant source of land. Table 1: Dstrbuton of respondents accordng to ther source of farmland for cocoyam and coffee producton Source of Cocoyam Coffee farmland Frequ- Per- Freq- Perency cen- quency centage tage Inherted Purchased Leased Gft Communal Number (n=116 ) : Multple responses were recorded Labour allocaton for the dfferent farm operatons for cocoyam s shown n Table 2. Results show that weedng was the most mportant farm operaton n cocoyam producton n terms of labor requrement (31.4%). Ths was followed by rdge makng (21.6%) and harvestng (19.6%). These results are n lne wth those of Tambe (1994) and Ezednma (2000) that weedng, land preparaton and harvestng s the most Table 2: Labour allocaton (mandays) per hectare for dfferent farm operatons on cocoyam based crop enterprse Farm operaton Mandays Percentage Land clearng Rdge makng Plantng Weedng Harvestng Total Table 3: Labour allocaton (mandays) per hectare for dfferent farm operatons on a coffee based crop enterprse Farm operaton Mandays Percentage Weedng Prunng Sprayng chemcals Fertlzer applcaton Harvestng Total

4 17 DOROTHY E. FON labour ntensve actvtes n yam and cassava producton. Plantng and land clearng requred the least mandays. All the operatons carred out on the cocoyam farms were done manually. Table 4: Farm tools / equpment used on cocoyam farms and ther annual values Tool/ Average Total lfe Annual Equpment cost span value (FCFA) (Years) (FCFA) Hoe Cutlass Knfe Axe Basn Basket Total Note: FCFA = Afrcan Fnancal Communty (Franc) or Francs Communaute Francase Afrcane n French language. Ths currency s pegged to the Euros at 1 Euro= FCFA US$1=500 FCFA (Ths rate fluctuates a lot) Table 5: Farm tools / equpment used on coffee farms and ther annual values Tool/ Average Total lfe Annual Equpment cost span value (FCFA) (Years) (FCFA) Hoe Cutlass Prunng Scssor Sprayer Jute Bags Tarpauln Basket Fle Total Note: FCFA = Afrcan Fnancal Communty (Franc) or Francs Communaute Francase Afrcane n French language. Ths currency s pegged to the Euros at 1 Euro= FCFA. US$1=500 FCFA (Ths rate fluctuates a lot) Labour allocaton for the dfferent farm operatons on coffee farms s presented n Table 3. The table shows that harvestng was the most mportant farm operaton n coffee producton n terms of labor requrement (52.9%). Ths supports the fndngs of Waller et al. (2007). Weedng was next n mportance wth a labor allocaton of 29.4%, followed by prunng (10.3%). Ths may be due to the fact that tmelness n farm operatons counts. For nstance, harvestng of the coffee beans at the approprate perod enhance the yeld both n quantty and qualty and Calo and Wse (2005) affrms that coffee productvty s very senstve to regular upkeep. In a producton process, there are usually nputs n the form of land, labor and captal of whch manageral skll s added to gve the expected result. In the study area, cocoyam and coffee producton are consdered to be processes whereby nputs lke land, labor and captal are combned by the farmers n the best way they can to produce cocoyams and coffee beans. Captal ncludes cash, farm tools/equpment and structures. Farm structures were vrtually absent and such physcal structures lke buldngs n whch farmers keep ther farm tools/ equpment and outputs, were gnored because they were prmarly used for resdence. The farm tools/equpment used by farmers n the study area ncluded hoes, cutlasses, knves axes, basns and baskets for cocoyam producton whle cutlasses, prunng scssors, sprayers, baskets, jute bags, tarpaulns and fles were used for coffee. Tables 4 and 5 show the annual values of the farm tools/equpment used by the farmers on cocoyam and coffee farms. An average cocoyam farmer has four tools: hoes, cutlass, knfe and basket, whle an average coffee farmer has fve tools namely: hoe, cutlass, basket, jute bag and fle. However, t s rare to fnd a cocoyam or coffee farmer n possesson of all the mentoned tools /equpment outlned n Tables 4 and 5. A total annual value of FCFA and FCFA could be obtaned for any cocoyam or coffee farmer n possesson of all the farm tools /equpment lsted and a lesser amount otherwse. 3.2 Results of the Estmated Crops Producton Functons The effects of soco-economc varables, whch were nvestgated usng the producton functon model had correlaton matrx that showed that none of the ndependent varables was statstcally lnearly correlated, that s, there was no multcollnearty. A summary of the regresson analyss (of the best ft form) for cocoyam and coffee producton s shown n Table 6. The mean values of the varables are presented n Table 7 the double-log form(out of the three functonal forms tred), gave the best ft n terms of the overall F-Rato, coeffcent of multple determnaton (R 2 ), the statstcal sgnfcance of

5 LABOUR AND CAPITAL ALLOCATION FOR CROPPING IN CAMEROON 179 Table 6: Summary of the multple regresson analyss for cocoyam and coffee (the double log form) Varable Cocoyam Coffee ) -1.3 ( 0.12 (0.54) (0.27) Famly sze (X 2 ) (22) (0.11) Educatonal level (X 3 ) (0.15) (0.07) Farmng experence (X 4 ) 0.96 ( 0.3 (0.41) (0.23) Farm sze (X 5 ) (0.16) (0.07) ) 0.4 ) 0.07 (0.10) (0.40) Captal (X 7 ) (0.20) (0.07) Dummy Varable (X ) 0.19 (0.06) Constant (b o ) R-Square (R 2 ) Overall F = 5%; t 0.025, 120 = 1.96 = 10%; t. 05, 120 = Statstcally sgnfcant at 5% level Statstcally sgnfcant at 10% level All others: nsgnfcant at 10% level Values n parentheses represent standard error Table 7: Mean values of varables n regresson e quato n Varable Mean value ) 4.43 Famly sze (X 2 ).64 Educatonal level (X 3 ) 2.76 Farmng experence (X 4) 4.32 Farm sze (X 5 ) ) Captal (X 7 ) Output (Y) Dummy Varable (X ) 0.77 : Cocoyam; : Coffee the regresson coeffcents and the sgns on the regresson coeffcents, see Tables and 9. The effect of captal and labor was derved by substtutng the mean values of the varables except for captal and labor n the double-log form of the equatons for both cocoyam and coffee. Table : Summary of multple regresson analyss for cocoyam producton Varable Lnear Sem Double log log ) ) (125.74) (54.64) (0.54) Famly sze (X 2 ) (33.60) (244.99) (22) Educatonal level (X 3 ) (66.55) (149.77) (0.15) Farmng experence (X 4 ) (109.42) (416.77) (0.41) Farm sze (X 5 ) (14.42) (164.49) (0.16) ) (3.13) (401.13) (0.40) Captal (X 7 ) (202.45) (0.20) (0.07) Constant (b o ) R-Square (R 2 ) Overall F = 5%; t 0.025, 120 = 1.96 = 10%; t. 05, 120 = Statstcally sgnfcant at 5% level Statstcally sgnfcant at 10% level All others: nsgnfcant at 10% level Values n parentheses represent standard error Table 9: Summary of multple regresson analyss for coffee producton Varable Lnear Sem Double log log ) (0.4) -3.1 (0.27) Famly sze (X 2 ) (0.11) (0.9) (0.11) Educatonal level (X 3 ) (0.26) (0.64) (0.07) Farmng experence (X 4 ) (0.45) (1.99) (0.23) Farm sze (X 5 ) (14.42) (164.49) (0.16) ) (3.13) (401.13) (0.40) Captal (X 7 ) (0.00) (0.4) (0.07) Dummy Varable (X ) (0.49) (0.57) (0.06) Constant (b o ) R-Square (R 2 ) Overall F = 5%; t 0.025, 120 = 1.96 = 10%; t. 05, 120 = Statstcally sgnfcant at 5% level Statstcally sgnfcant at 10% level All others: nsgnfcant at 10% level Values n parentheses represent standard error

6 10 DOROTHY E. FON For cocoyam; For coffee; Where X = mean values and = 1-7 Substtutng the mean values of the X except for captal and labor nto the estmated producton model and takng the antlogs for cocoyam gave Y= X X The results show that the output of cocoyam s dependent on labor and captal. The overall regresson equaton was statstcally sgnfcant (p<0.05) wth an F- Calculated (11.32) greater than the crtcal F from table (3.06). The factor ntensty rato (b 7 /b 6 ) s gven by 0.9/ 0.4 = 1.2, that s ntensty of use of captal and labor n cocoyam producton s not sgnfcantly dfferent, snce the ntensty rato s close to one. The parameter estmates b 6 = 0.4 and b 7 =0.9 gve elastcty of output wth respect to labor and captal. The margnal products of labor and captal were postve ndcatng that ncreases n labor and / or captal wll yeld postve margnal products. From the results of the estmated model, b 6 + b 7 was more than one (1.2) ndcatng the presence of ncreasng returns to scale. More precsely, ths result showed that, a 1% ncrease n the ntenstes of both labour and captal altogether would be assocated wth an ncrease of 1.2% n cocoyam yeld. Therefore, ncreasng the allocaton of both labour and captal would be hghly productve to cocoyam farmers n the study area. The results of the regresson analyss Y=0.03X X (P<0.01) showed that the output of coffee was dependent on labor and captal. The factor ntensty rato (b 7 /b 6 ) for coffee producton was hgh (Falus and Olayde 190). Ths ndcates the captal-ntensve nature of the farmng operatons nvolved n coffee producton. The parameters estmates b 6 = and b 7 = 0.26 gve the elastctes of output wth respect to labor and captal. The margnal products of labor and captal were postve ndcatng that an ncrease n labor and / or captal wll yeld postve margnal products. From the results of the estmated model b 6 and b 7 was less than one (0.325), ndcatng the presence of decreasng returns to scale. One percent ncrease n the ntenstes of both the labour and captal would lead to 0.33% ncrease n coffee yeld. Hence, an ncrease n both the labour and captal s less productve n coffee farms compared to cocoyam farms. As a 1% ncrease n the ntenstes of both the labour and captal leads to an ncrease n cocoyam yeld by 1.2%, t would lead to an ncrease n coffee yeld by only 0.325%. 4. CONCLUSION Most people n the North West regon are dependent on coffee as the cash crop and cocoyam as the staple food crop. The producton of these two crops suffers from the lack of approprate allocaton of both labour and captal resources n the regon. Descrptve feld results show that n cocoyam producton, labor and captal ntenstes of use were on equal bass, that s, there was no sgnfcant dfference n usage, whle coffee producton was captal ntensve. Usng a Cobb-Douglas producton functon (log-log functon), ths study proves that, the producton of cocoyam undergoes an ncreasng returns to scale n relaton to both labour and captal (sum of elastctes equals to 1.2) whereas the producton of coffee crop rather undergoes a decreasng returns to scale wth respect to the labour and captal nputs (sum of elastctes equals to 0.325). In concluson, labour and captal should frstly be allocated to cocoyam farms where they are more productve. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS For farmers and polcy makers takng decsons for farmers, t would be recommended that labour and captal resources should frstly be allocated to cocoyam farms where they are more productve. Although labour has a sgnfcant effect on cocoyam output and coffee output depended on labor, the manageral effcences n the producton of these commodtes are very low and thus call for mproved methods and technques of producton. Furthermore, t would be recommended that cocoyam and coffee farmers of the North West Regon (Cameroon) should organze themselves nto cooperatves or common ntatve groups n order to beneft: (1) In terms of labour: the group work can speed up ther work and ncrease ther productvty. (2) In terms of captal: to easly get access to credt/loans from agrcultural banks n

7 LABOUR AND CAPITAL ALLOCATION FOR CROPPING IN CAMEROON 11 order to fnance cocoyam and coffee actvtes. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author s grateful to the Councl for Development of Socal Scence Research n Afrca (CODESRIA) for the fnancal assstance provded for the executon of the research work. REFERENCES Calo M, Wse TA Revalung Peasant Coffee Producton: Organc and Far Trade Markets n Mexco. Medford, Mass: Global Development and Envronment Insttute(GDAE) Defranc M L agrculture Camerounase: les grands axes de la poltque agrcole. In:Bulletn Regarder l Afrque, Mars Doll JP, Orazem F 194. Producton Economcs Theory wth Applcatons. New York: John Wley and Sons. Ezednma CI Farm resource allocaton and proftablty of arable crop enterprses n the humd forest nland valley ecosystem: A case study of Ozu Abam n Southern Ngera. UNISWA J of Agrculture, 9:4-56. Falus AO, Olayde SO 190. Agrcultural nputs and the small farmers n Ngera. In: SO Olayde, JA Eweka, OE Bello-Sage (Eds.): Ngeran Small Farmers Problems and Prospects n Integrated Rural Development. Ibadan, Ngera: Centre for Agrculture and Rural Development, Unversty of Ibadan, pp Fon DE Access to arable land by rural women n Cameroon. Tropcultura, 29(2): Heady EO, Dllon JL Agrcultural Producton Functons. Ames, Iowa, Iowa State: Unversty Press. Mnstry of Agrculture Annuare des statstques du secteur agrcole campagne 2000/2001. Dvson des Etudes et Projets Agrcoles, Cellule des Enquêtes et Statstques, Yaoundé, Cameroun, pp Tambe RE The Economcs of Cocoyam Producton by Smallholder Farmers n Manyu Dvson South West Provnce of Cameroon. M.Sc. Project Report, Unpublshed. Nsukka: Unversty of Ngera. Tempelman DE 199 Rural Women and Food Securty: Current Stuaton and Perspectves. From < w w w. f a o. o r g / D O C R E P / / W E / W37600.HTM> (Retreved February 23, 2012). Waller JM, M Bgger, Hllocks RA Coffee Pests Dseases and ther Management.UK CABI Internal Seres. World Bank World Development Indcators Database, From < (Retreved December 07, 2009).