Absence of Social Amenities: Impeding the Livelihood of Farmers in Matoh Butu

摘要

Cameroon's population by January 2017 was estimated to be 24,260,003 and counting and 45.6% of this people lived in rural areas. But the lack of social amenities in these areas poses a problem to their health and their general livelihood. Cocoa remains the main cash crop to more than 75% of the population of Cameroon. It is mainly produced by peasant farmers, who depend mostly on the profit derived from the management of this crop, even though this is a seasonal crop, these farmers. Matoh Butu is a village found in Konye Sub-Division, Meme Division of the South West Region of Cameroon. This study aims at determining the economic situation of the inhabitants of Matoh Butu Village. A field visit was carried out in this village by 6 experts spending two weeks in the village. This was to assess the availability of social amenities; the average quantity of cocoa that they produce; what other crops they produce and if they market these produce; how they manage their farms; how they manage their income and the challenges they face in agriculture. Results show that there is a poor road network leading to the village and to their farms, there is no portable drinking water and there is inadequate health services. An average farmer in the rural area produces 32.3 bags of cocoa yearly but they lack knowledge on how to manage their income since there are no banks in the villages. Only 11.2% save their money in banks in the cities, 25.4% save theirs in "njangi" houses while the remaining 64.4% do not save at all. These make them to mishandle their income and they are forced to borrow chemicals for the next planting season causing the buyers to be the one to determine the price of the cocoa they produce. 84.1% borrows chemicals from their buyers. The main crop grown there is cocoa. Other food crops like plantain, banana, "okwani Cocoyam", macabo cocoyam, cassava and some vegetables like bitter leaf and ekong-obong are cultivated mainly for home consumption. Only 10% of the farmers sell their excess. In order to improve on their livelihood, there is need for the construction of roads and bridges to ease transport, portable drinking water and quality healthcare services has to be made available to the people, and they have to be trained on new sources of food to boast their economic status and thought on better agricultural practices.