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Can Rural Development Projects Generate Social Capital? A Case Study of Ricinodendron heudelotii Kernel Marketing in Cameroon

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Abstract

Social capital is an important pillar of farmers’ livelihoods and its importance for sustainable rural development has been recognised. Nevertheless, the creation of social capital through external interventions remains challenging. This study investigated the generation of social capital within a rural development project of the World Agroforestry Centre to promote Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill) Pierre ex Pax. kernel commercialisation. Combining quantitative and qualitative measurement techniques, the change in social capital over a period of 5 years was evaluated. Households of project villages were compared to control households. Project households increased their social assets significantly at different levels. Development interventions thus enhanced social capital, this improvement was mutually reinforced by a positive change in other farmer livelihood assets, in particular financial capital. This study reveals the complexity of social capital generation through external intervention and its implications for farmer livelihoods specifically and development work in general.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Bantu communities in for sharing their knowledge and hosting us during field work, and the collaborators at the World Agroforestry Centre (Yaoundé) for their assistance during fieldwork. We also thank the Belgian Leopold III fund for Nature Exploration and Conservation which provided a travel grant to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Agronomy and Ethnobotany, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    H. Cosyns & P. Van Damme

  2. Faculty of Tropical Agrisciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 165 21, Prague 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic

    P. Van Damme

  3. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF-GRP 1), Nairobi, Kenya

    P. Van Damme

  4. Laboratory of Forest Management and Spatial Information Techniques (FORSIT), Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    R. De Wulf

  5. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF-AHT), P.O. Box 16317, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    A. Degrande

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  1. H. Cosyns
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  2. P. Van Damme
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  3. R. De Wulf
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  4. A. Degrande
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Correspondence to H. Cosyns.

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Cosyns, H., Van Damme, P., De Wulf, R. et al. Can Rural Development Projects Generate Social Capital? A Case Study of Ricinodendron heudelotii Kernel Marketing in Cameroon. Small-scale Forestry 13, 163–182 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-013-9247-1

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