SOME RISK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AMONG THE BEEF CATTLE FARMERS OF THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE OF CAMEROON: EFFECT ON TECHNOLOGY DISSEMINATION

The North West Province of Cameroon is one of the four provinces that account for 90 % of Cameroon's estimated 6 million cattle heads. The cattle production in the area involves the rural poor population who are associated with a reluctance to take risks, presumably because risk taking would jeopardize their subsistence. That being the case, it becomes imperative to know what risk management methods they use. The overall objective of this study was to identify and examine the risk management practiced by the beef cattle farmers in the North West Province of Cameroon so as to determine their effects on technology dissemination. The beef cattle farmers were selected for the survey on the basis of their involvement in beef cattle farming. The researchers visited the selected farmers at their homesteads / farmsteads to collect the required information using a structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics while qualitative ones were analyzed using percentages and frequency counts. Eighty one percent of the respondents followed a mixed agro pastoral strategy in which cattle production was combined with crop farming. More than 90 % of the respondents had secondary economic activities other than crop farming. This is a major means of spreading risk across economic sectors and geographical space, and securing alternative sources of income. Sixty five percent of the respondents go on transhumance during the dry season for search of water and pasture for their animals. The cattle farmers relied on the use of their traditional cattle species that are more drought and disease resistant. Cattle and small ruminants were kept by more than 60 % of the respondents, subdivided into herds for risk avoidance, proper management and hand deticking.Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Grain morphological characterization and protein content of sixty-eight local rice (Oryza sativa L) cultivars from Cameroon

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivated in Cameroon is appreciated by consumers for its nutritive quality and good taste. Diversity of 68 local rice cultivars was investigated via grain morphology and protein content characterization. The size and shape of grains were determined and used with yield parameters to classify the cultivars and perform Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Total protein content and glutelin content of eight selected cultivars (CMRGNd, CMRGDn, CMRGTï, CMRTBa, CMRDWb, CMRDTc3, CMRDTx5 and CMRDTx6) were evaluated by Bradford assay and correlation analysis of all the parameters studied was performed. Long size grains (42) were predominant over extra-long (16), medium (9) and short (1) grains. Slender shaped grains (36) were distinguished as well as medium (28) and bold (4) grains. The 68 cultivars were grouped into four clusters independent of their origins. PCA revealed three principal components accounting for 74.4% of total variation. Highest total protein content was observed in CMRGNd (14.3%) and highest glutelin content in CMRGDn (10.1 mgEqvBSA/g DW). Pearson correlation of the different variables revealed no significant correlation between total protein and glutelin contents with the agro-morphological parameters evaluated in this study. This suggests that none of these parameters could be descriptor for protein content. Positive correlation between grain length and yield (r = 0.7) suggests grain length as yield descriptor

SOME RISK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AMONG THE BEEF CATTLE FARMERS OF THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE OF CAMEROON: EFFECT ON TECHNOLOGY DISSEMINATION

The North West Province of Cameroon is one of the four provinces that account for 90 % of Cameroon's estimated 6 million cattle heads. The cattle production in the area involves the rural poor population who are associated with a reluctance to take risks, presumably because risk taking would jeopardize their subsistence. That being the case, it becomes imperative to know what risk management methods they use. The overall objective of this study was to identify and examine the risk management practiced by the beef cattle farmers in the North West Province of Cameroon so as to determine their effects on technology dissemination. The beef cattle farmers were selected for the survey on the basis of their involvement in beef cattle farming. The researchers visited the selected farmers at their homesteads / farmsteads to collect the required information using a structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics while qualitative ones were analyzed using percentages and frequency counts. Eighty one percent of the respondents followed a mixed agro pastoral strategy in which cattle production was combined with crop farming. More than 90 % of the respondents had secondary economic activities other than crop farming. This is a major means of spreading risk across economic sectors and geographical space, and securing alternative sources of income. Sixty five percent of the respondents go on transhumance during the dry season for search of water and pasture for their animals. The cattle farmers relied on the use of their traditional cattle species that are more drought and disease resistant. Cattle and small ruminants were kept by more than 60 % of the respondents, subdivided into herds for risk avoidance, proper management and hand deticking

Rice Data Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa: Contribution to the Japan-AfricaRice Emergency Rice Project

The rice data system for sub-Saharan Africa, which is a contribution to the Japan-AfricaRice Emergency Rice Initiative, is funded by the government of Japan. The project was coordinated at the regional level by Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and implemented at national levels by the national focal points. Throughout the course of the project implementation, the country focal points have made substantial and active contributions to ensure a smooth coordination of the project in-country activities. The national focal points are from the national agricultural research systems (NARS) and the national agricultural statistical services (NASS) of the countries that are members of the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD). To ensure an effective communication between the project coordination unit and the countries, an intensive networking was established, which included sending of quarterly progress reports by the countries. Overall, the implementation of the project activities went well and it demonstrated the feasibility of building long-term collaborative working relationships between several national stakeholders to sustainably develop a multipurpose rice data systems. The surveys helped the countries develop well-structured rice statistical databases. Overall, the project activities went well and the national surveys were successfully conducted in the majority of the countries leading to the development of up-to-date and accessible rice data and information. In fact, as future project activities, the country teams will work to conduct in-depth analysis of the data collected in this project to update the national rice development strategies (NRDS), conduct rice research priority setting exercises and publish papers and policy briefs. AfricaRice discussed with the main donor in Japan who accepted that in-depth analysis of the data collected can continue after 30 April 2010, to publish the data in Google Map and transform the country reports into final and more comprehensive reports