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The adoption of agroecology and conventional farming techniques varies with socio-demographic characteristics of small-scale farmers in the Fako and Meme divisions of Cameroon

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Abstract

This study verifies how the adoption of agroecology and conventional farming techniques varies among different socio-economic characteristics. Data acquisition involved the administering of 200 questionnaires and the organization of two focus group discussions (FGDs). The data collected were analysed using: frequencies, means, probabilities, odds and odd ratios. The FGDs were analysed using context analysis. The analyses were performed in SPSS version 20 and Wordstat 7. The results reveal that older respondents tend to adopt conventional farming techniques more than other categories due mainly to inertia or the inability to adapt to changes and their limited propensity to adopt agroecology techniques. Farmers with fewer years of farming experience are more open to agroecology related techniques due to higher inertia while those with more years of farming experience converge with older farmers who tend to prefer conventional farming. The higher the level of income, the more frequent the use of agroecology techniques. Families with more members who live and work on the farm are more open to agroecology; however, there is a limit beyond which the more the number of family members who live and work on the farm, the less the probability of adopting agroecology techniques. The higher the level of education, the greater the propensity to adopt and experiment with agroecology.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to the Fonds de recherche du Québec -Société et Culture for funding this study through a post-doctoral grant number (2015-B3-180319) to Dr. Epule. Thanks also to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

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  1. Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal, Pavillon 520, ch. de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Local 332-3, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Terence Epule Epule & Christopher Robin Bryant

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Correspondence to Terence Epule Epule.

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Epule, T.E., Bryant, C.R. The adoption of agroecology and conventional farming techniques varies with socio-demographic characteristics of small-scale farmers in the Fako and Meme divisions of Cameroon. GeoJournal 82, 1145–1164 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9734-y

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