Bioeconomic characterization of oil palm production and adoption among non-industrial producers in Cameroon: Some environmental and socio-ecological implications
Regardless of the environmental and socio-ecological implications of oil palm cultivation, palm oil is considered one of the most important oil crops in the world because of its high production efficiency, and has seen a marked increase in the area of land under cultivation. While previous studies have analyzed the implications of this increase in cultivation on various socio-economic and environmental indicators, less is known about the drivers and constraints of production, especially with respect to economic and profitability motives. In this study, we used a survey of non-industrial producers in Cameroon to assess the drivers of oil palm adoption and production. We employ a double hurdle model in a two-step regression framework to characterize oil palm adoption by smallholder farmers, and the extent of oil palm cultivation, in relation to socio-economic, environmental and contextual features. For comparison purposes, a Tobit model was also estimated. We find that different socio-economic, ecological and contextual characteristics have a differential relationship with both the likelihood of cultivating oil palm and the area under oil palm cultivation. Key amongst these are expected profitability measures like market orientation and access to market information, land tenure security, and access to improved farm inputs. Some aspects of transaction cost and labour availability also come into play in determining production. Across a range of different farm classifications related to size of production, we find that oil palm cultivation is adopted by all farm groups. We also show that our results are robust over several specifications including ordinary least square estimates in the framework of the linear probability model and LASSO regressions. Our study thus provides evidence of several leverage points for improving the oil palm sector for non-industrial producers.