Adoption of Management Tools by Farmers in the Context of Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services in Menoua Division, West Cameroon

Abstract

Aims: This study aims to analyze the challenges under the adoption of management tools provided by the Programme for the Consolidation and Sustainability of Agro-pastoral Counselling (PCP-ACEFA) to farmers in the Menoua Division. Methodology: 60 farmers were surveyed using a stratified random sampling technic and 5 advisors were interviewed. The data were processed and analyzed with Excel 2013 and SPSS software version 20. Results: Results shows that a variety of management tools are available to farmers in the Menoua division. The calculation of gross margin (utilization rate 62.96%), Balance sheet (utilization rate 60%) are the most widely used, especially for farms generating large financial flows. Concerning the factors influencing the adoption of management tools, the study revealed several categories: social, economic and institutional. Social factors, for example with the level of education, show that those who adopt the most (50%) have at least secondary education. Furthermore, with the help of the advisors, farmers who adopted these tools have been experiencing changes in their activities as they can now evaluate their activities to know their economic performances which will further permit them to make better decisions. The study also shows that farmers faced difficulties in adopting the use of management tools and it is mostly (33, 33%) due to a lack of finance to expand their exploitation and Implementation difficulties (20.8%). Concerning strategies for a better adoption of tools, farmers mostly propose that the program help increasing their farm size by financing their activities and simplification of tools to the least level that everyone can use. Conclusion: The recommendations formulated at the end of this study are to increase farmers' awareness and training in the use of management tools to guarantee good yields on their farms.