Production Constraints, Postharvest Losses and Farmers’ Responses to Innovations in the Cassava Value Chain in Cameroons’ South West Region

This study was carried out in Cameroons’ South West region where farmer produce cassava for household consumption and income generation. Most of the production is undertaken by peasant farmers in rural areas with inadequate infrastructure for production, storage and marketing despite the vulnerability of the staple to postharvest losses. In addition majority of farmers have inadequate access to technologies that reduce food losses and increase farm incomes: while most cassava farmers operate under precarious economic, environmental and financial constraints that grossly affect production and farm incomes. In spite these constraints cassava farmers still depend on rudimentary approaches that increase postharvest losses and reduce farm incomes. It is obvious that cassava products cannot sustain demand without innovations which increase output and reduce food losses. The objective of this study is to examine the various constraints affecting cassava production, methods of storage, and reasons for farmers dependence on rudimentary approaches rather than innovation that increase farm output. A sample population of 406 farmers was selected from twenty villages using Glenn Israel (2009) estimates for determining population samples. According to the study farmers’ choice of innovations are based on how adaptive or beneficial the innovations are in various socioeconomic and cultural environment in which production takes place.