Analysis of factors affecting technical efficiency of arabica coffee producers in Cameroon

This study analyses the factors influencing the technical efficiency of arabica coffee farmers in Cameroon. To carry out this analysis, a translog stochastic production frontier function, in which technical inefficiency effects are specified to be functions of socioeconomic variables, is estimated using the maximum-likelihood method. The data used were collected from a sample of 140 farmers during the 2004 crop year. The results obtained show some increasing returns to scale in coffee production. The mean technical efficiency index is estimated at 0.896, and 32% of the farmers surveyed have technical efficiency indexes of less than 0.91. The analysis also reveals that the educational level of the farmer and access to credit are the major socioeconomic variables influencing the farmers' technical efficiency. Finally, the findings prove that further productivity gains linked to the improvement of technical efficiency may still be realized in coffee production in Cameroon. Keywords: Technical efficiency, stochastic production frontier, arabica coffee, Cameroon JEL classification: 013, Q18, C21, R3

Proceedings of the African Diaspora Conference on Sustainable Development

The authors urge the Western donor organizations to facilitate and support the take up of such more sustainable models

Aspects of Poverty and Inequality in Cameroon

Poverty and inequality remain extremely high for Cameroon despite improvements in poverty figures between 1996 and 2001. To understand the dynamics of poverty and inequality between 1996 and 2001, this book develops a poverty and inequality profile, investigates the sources of inequality along spatial lines and simulates some policies which could be used in the reduction of poverty and inequality. The book also addresses two major sectors of the Cameroonian economy with a special focus on gender bias in agriculture and linkages between the formal and informal sector. The empirical analyses show that there are large spatial differences in poverty in Cameroon and that sources of inequality vary by location. Regardless of the definition used, the informal sector in Cameroon is extremely large but closely linked to the formal sector. The gender bias experienced by women in access to productive assets in agriculture reduces the efficiency of agricultural production

Complementarity, rivalry and substitution in the governance of forests: Learning from independent forest monitoring system in Cameroon

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Forest Policy and Economics on 06/08/2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2019.101981 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.The consequence of state controlled forestry in Cameroon has been the overexploitation of forest resources often in conflict with local forest dependent communities and state conservation objectives. The failure of state controlled forestry to achieve sustainable forest management has led to the emergence of new network like arrangements amongst which is independent forest monitoring (IFM) by civil society. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the factors which affect the effectiveness of IFM governance network in Cameroon. Our research focused on a case study of Cameroon, employing a governance network perspective. The main findings are that national civil society in Cameroon is playing a significant role in improving transparency in the forest sector and holding decision makers to account. The paper finds a shift from technical areas of forest monitoring to the monitoring of social obligations and the respect of community rights by private companies. An analysis of actors highlights a strong network of national NGOs with self-defined goals and strategies engaged in very fluid relationships with law enforcement agencies beyond traditional ministries of forests and wildlife characterised by a spectrum ranging from complementarity, substitution and rivalry. The lack of sustainable funding and weak capabilities of national NGOs to navigate these fluid relationships emerges as core constraints for network effectiveness. Accordingly, recommendations for effectiveness entail strategies for sustainable funding, capacity strengthening and network coordination to address current weaknesses but also to build trust and credibility of the governance network.This work was supported by the European Union [ENV/2016/380-500]; and the University of Wolverhampton's Research Investment Fund 3.Accepted versio

Regulatory controversies of private pension funds

Like other financial institutions, private pension funds require a panoply of prudential and protective regulations to ensure their soundness and safeguard the interests of affiliated workers. These regulations include authorization criteria (such as as minimum capital,"fit and proper,"and business plan requirements), asset segregation and external custody, professional asset management, external audits and actuarial reviews, extensive information disclosure, and effective supervision. These regulations resemble those applied to banks and insurance companies and are not particularly controversial. But private pension funds in developing countries are often subject to structural and operational controls that are more controversial. Such controls include special authorizations and market segmentation,"one account per worker"and"one fund per company"rules, nondiscrimination provisions, regulations on fees and commissions, investment limits, minimum profitability rules, and state guarantees. The author discusses the use of such regulations in developing countries that have implemented systemic pension reforms. He draws a distinction between this approach and the more relaxed regulatory regime that relies on the"prudent person"rule found in more advanced countries. He argues that the"draconian"regulatory approach can be justified on several grounds, but especially by the compulsory nature of the pension system, the absence of strong and transparent capital markets, and the lack of a long tradition of private pension funds. But the regulations should be progressively relaxed as private pension funds and their affiliated workers gain in experience, sophistication, and maturity.Pensions&Retirement Systems,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Insurance Law,Pensions&Retirement Systems,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Banks&Banking Reform

The politics of policy and practice: International financial institutions and biodiversity.

This thesis is concerned with the accountability of public international financial institutions to their constituencies at global and local geographic scales. It investigates the compliance of the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with their own environmental and social policies as they relate to biodiversity protection. While the World Bank and the GEF pursue a global environmental agenda, their environmental and social policies commit the institutions to building bridges between the global and the local levels by requiring the participation of locally affected communities in decision-making. The study investigates the compliance with the policies in a specific geographic, political and economic space. Cameroon was chosen because both institutions consider the country's biodiversity to be of global significance and are financing operations which have indirect and direct impacts on its biodiversity. The operations investigated include World Bank macro-economic policy advice and traditional investments in infrastructure projects as well as a GEF project specifically designed to protect biodiversity. The central finding of this research is that the institutions comply only partially and in an uneven manner with their own mandatory policy guidelines. In order to mitigate the risk of studying the institutions' operations in only one country and to ascertain possible systemic patterns of institutional behaviour, the results of the case studies are contrasted with the institutions internal evaluation reports covering their overall portfolios. A political ecology approach to international financial institutions is used to examine the political factors behind the emergence of the institutions' biodiversity agenda and the implementation of their operational policies. Analytical tools from both political science and the areas of sociology and economics concerned with theory of organization are employed to further the understanding of the functioning of the global institutions. Finally, the thesis seeks to contribute to defining the characteristics of global institutions which can mediate between the global and local levels by creating spaces of negotiation in which a plurality of views are taken into account

The governance of oil and gas operations in hostile but attractive regions: West Africa.

West Africa with its well-endowed natural resources remains a highly attractive investment opportunity. That is, to investors who are not deterred by the economical and political challenges of these countries including the responsibilities of governments to ensure that the people are not losing out of the benefits derived from the exploitation of these resources. The investor's overall responsibility in the extractive industries has been scrutinised over recent years and their corporate social responsibility to their shareholders to make as much profit as possible no longer exonerate them from their responsibility towards the host country in which they operate. In view of the question as to why there exists such a huge interest in doing business in some of the most hostile regions of the world such as West Africa with all the typical problems associated with the oil industry, this article considers some of the pertinent issues concerning the governance of the petroleum sector in West Africa, including the attraction and the role of the state in the development of the resources; and the challenges of governance and transparency. Concluding that with the abundance of natural resources, the huge interest in the development of the region's oil and gas resources, the various international initiatives on public sector reform, transparency and anti-corruption, West African oil-producing countries (supported by the IOCs operating in the region) have a golden opportunity to tackle the above problems, transform their national economies and enhance the lives of all their citizens