Partnership farming and cocoa cultivation in rural Cameroon: A sociological perspective

Agriculture as an economic activity remains indispensable to human populations in Africa. The increase in the population of Cameroon over the years implies that more people will engage in agriculture in general and within the cocoa sector in particular. Through its diversified farming systems, partnership farming as an age old practice provides an opportunity to three main categories of migrant workers namely:  those who do not have farms to cultivate cocoa; labourers who do not want to own farms; and migrant labourers who need immediate revenue, is a phenomenon which has been considered uninteresting to researchers. This study on partnership farming and cocoa cultivation in the Bomboko area of Cameroon was concerned with describing the nature of partnership farming in the area with focus on micro relations between farm owners and workers contrary to all other studies which were limited to relations between firms and agents. As an exploratory study, a qualitative approach was possible through the application of observation and interview guide as instruments. The study revealed that partnership farming perpetuates the cycle of borrowing and is generally exploitative in nature but not in the Marxist sense. It allows for social learning where activities are internalised and thus become objects of discussion, comparison and classification such that group reflections are Cocoa-bound within rural communities as well as the development of a specific language and labelling for actors with ritualization and sacralisation of activities.