The Contribution of Village Palm Grove to the Cameroonian Rural Economic Development

Abstract

In Cameroon, the 1980s were marked by the economic crisis (falling export revenues) with the direct consequences of unemployment. Thus many were retrenched from the public service, private companies and graduated students engaged in small- income generating activities which later became small businesses. It is in this context that the village palm grove started to bloom as an economic branch and contributes remarkably to the development of business activities in rural areas in Cameroon. Despite, the poorly organized activities small-scale producers deserve a framework that will allow a diffusion of entrepreneurial spirit that will promote the development of rural areas and economic development as well. This article shows how villagers in Cameroon deal with entrepreneurship activities in agricultural business, especially in the business of palm oil. The article aims at introducing the palm grove activity branch as an elevator of entrepreneurship in rural areas; it stresses the characteristics of entrepreneurial actors in this branch of activity, the motivations of small-scale producers towards the production of palm oil and the challenges of the palm grove activity branch. This study show how the business of palm oil is source of main income and contributes to the social welfare of small-scale producers.