SOME RISK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AMONG THE BEEF CATTLE FARMERS OF THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE OF CAMEROON: EFFECT ON TECHNOLOGY DISSEMINATION

The North West Province of Cameroon is one of the four provinces that account for 90 % of Cameroon's estimated 6 million cattle heads. The cattle production in the area involves the rural poor population who are associated with a reluctance to take risks, presumably because risk taking would jeopardize their subsistence. That being the case, it becomes imperative to know what risk management methods they use. The overall objective of this study was to identify and examine the risk management practiced by the beef cattle farmers in the North West Province of Cameroon so as to determine their effects on technology dissemination. The beef cattle farmers were selected for the survey on the basis of their involvement in beef cattle farming. The researchers visited the selected farmers at their homesteads / farmsteads to collect the required information using a structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics while qualitative ones were analyzed using percentages and frequency counts. Eighty one percent of the respondents followed a mixed agro pastoral strategy in which cattle production was combined with crop farming. More than 90 % of the respondents had secondary economic activities other than crop farming. This is a major means of spreading risk across economic sectors and geographical space, and securing alternative sources of income. Sixty five percent of the respondents go on transhumance during the dry season for search of water and pasture for their animals. The cattle farmers relied on the use of their traditional cattle species that are more drought and disease resistant. Cattle and small ruminants were kept by more than 60 % of the respondents, subdivided into herds for risk avoidance, proper management and hand deticking