Impact de l'urbanisation sur l'intensification des systèmes de production horticoles au Cameroun

Impact of urbanization on the intensification of horticulture production systems in Cameroon. The urbanization of sub-Saharan African cities has resulted in an increase in food demand for horticultural productions (market gardening, plantains, yams...) and a modification of access conditions to productive resources (land, job, capital, inputs...). The extensive slash and burn production systems, which characterize food crop farming, are reaching the limit of their capacity to produce enough surplus without degrading the environment. This paper examines the impact of urban demand on the process of intensification of farming in the tropical forest zone. The stated hypothesis is that urbanization structures the process in a differential manner according to production around three orientations: specialization of intensive market garden production basins within the vicinity of towns; horticultural diversification of cash crops farming through intensification of work and mixed farming systems; and emergence of capital intensive enterprise farming, mobilising paid labour. Theoretically, a meeting point between an approach of systemic analysis and that of the sector is mobilized. The methodology mobilises field research conducted in Cameroon. It is organized in three stages: locating the zones supplying urban markets which localize zones supplying markets; surveys conducted by student interns (16 specific case studies); a synthesis using an analytical grid to evaluate the process of transformation of the production systems that the hypothesis can be tested.