Livelihood diversification as coping strategy under climate risk : Evidence from rural farm household in Cameroon

This study aims at highlighting the role of livelihood diversification and identifying the optimal portfolio of farm household's activities under climate risk in the rural Cameroon. Data used comes from a survey on the perception and adaptation to climate change from November 2022 to July 2023. Climatic data on rainfall and temperature were collected from meteorological stations. Markowitz portfolio model has been applied to identify the optimal portfolio. It's found that to reduce climate risk related vulnerability, farm households adopt income diversification choosing a portfolio consisting of wild mango kernels and ngnetum africanum on one hand, and cassava sticks and maize on the other. The results have also unveiled that, whatever the value of the risk-aversion coefficient, the optimal portfolio should contain gnetum africanum, maize, wild mango kernels and cassava sticks. Therefore this study aims to equip rural farmers knowledge and principles of combining income-generating activities to maintain and improve their livelihoods, in order to effectively fight against poverty in the rural area. Policy makers should implement measures to support production of gnetum africanum, maize, wild mango kernels and cassava sticks. These measures may be combined with equipping them with necessary skills, market access and storage infrastructure to fully benefit from income diversification.