Assessing the Impact of Consumer Behaviour on Food Security in South West Cameroon

Mukete Beckline^1, and Monono Samuel Kato²

¹Department of Forest Management, Beijing Forestry University 35 Qinghua Dong Lu, Haidian District Beijing, China

²Community Service for Environmental Protection (COSEP), Cameroon; P. O. Box 76 Tiko, South West Region, Cameroon

Cite this paper

Mukete Beckline and Monono Samuel Kato. Assessing the Impact of Consumer Behaviour on Food Security in South West Cameroon. Journal of Food Security. 2014; 2(3):87-91. doi: 10.12691/JFS-2-3-3

Abstract

Food security is a major global issue with over a billion people believed to lack sufficient dietary energy access while others suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Estimating food insecurity prevalence and patterns is tenuous since there exist no known direct methodology. This paper explores the factors that influence consumer food preferences hence exposing them to food insecurity. It draws on primary oral field data, livelihood surveys and documented socioeconomic activities that combine to create a range of different household livelihood outcomes. Over 400 respondents in six localities of Buea district, Cameroon were interviewed and cultural background, seasonal changes (variation), gender and purchasing power were strong factors driving consumer food preferences hence exposing them to food insecurity.

Keywords

food insecurity, consumer behaviour, Buea, purchasing power, socio-economics and foodstuff

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	Ajaga, N (2004). Why poor people remain poor. Key elements for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. De Scholar Press and Buma Kor Publications, 2004 288 pp.
[2]	Alison, A (2005). What drives food insecurity in southern Africa? A meta-analysis of household economy studies. Global Environmental Change 15 (1) 33-43.
[3]	Bagchi et al., (1998). Conceptual and methodological challenges in the study of livelihood trajectories: case-studies in eastern India and western Nepal. Journal of International Development 10: 453-468.
[4]	Barrett, C (2002) in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, B. L. Gardner, G. C. Rausser, Eds. (Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 2002), vol. 2B.
[5]	Batisani, N and Yarnal, B (2010). Rainfall variability and trends in semi-arid Botswana: implications for climate change adaptation policy. Applied Geography. 30 (4): 483-489.
[6]	Barrett et al., (2010).Measuring Food Insecurity. Science 327, 825 (2010).
[7]	Cross, G (1997). Revenue management: hard-core tactics for market domination. Broadway Books. pp. 66-71.
[8]	Carney, D (1998). Implementing the sustainable rural livelihoods approach. Chapter 1 in D. Carney, editor. Sustainable rural livelihoods: What contribution can we make? Department for International Development, London, UK.
[9]	Darnton-Hill et al., (2005). Micronutrient deficiencies and gender: social and economic costs. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (81) 5 1198S-1205S.
[10]	Deardorff, V (2006). Terms of Trade: Glossary of International Economics, World Scientific. Online version: Deardorffs' Glossary of International conomics, "good" and "service".
[11]	De Haan, L and Zoomers, A (2005). Exploring the frontier of livelihoods research. Development and Change 36 (1): 27-47.
[12]	Devereaux, S (2009).Why does famine persist in Africa? Food Security (1) 25-35.
[13]	Ellis, F (2000). Rural livelihoods and diversity in developing countries. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
[14]	FAO, (2004). Age-and-sex-group-specific minimum energy requirements as set by a joint expert consultation summarized in FAO/ UNU/WHO, Human Energy Requirements. Rome, Italy.
[15]	FAO, (2005). Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security. Rome, Italy.
[16]	FAO, (2006).The State of Food and Agriculture 2006: Food Aid for Food Security? Rome, Italy.
[17]	FAO, (2007). The state of food and agriculture: Paying farmers for environmental services. [Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA), FAO, Rome, 2007]; www.fao.org/docrep/010/a1200e/a1200e00.htm
[18]	FAO (2009). 1.02 billion Hungry: one sixth of humanity undernourished-more than ever before.
[19]	Rome, Italy. Http//www.fao.org/news/story/0/item/20568/icode/en/
[20]	FAO (2009). More people than ever are victims of hunger (2009); accessed 9 November 2009 at www.fao. org/fileadmin/user_upload/newsroom/docs/Press%20release%20june-en.pdf
[21]	FAO, (2011b). Forests for improved nutrition and food security: Food and Agriculture Organization. Rome, Italy. Http//www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2011e/i2011e00.pdf
[22]	FAO (2012). Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security in Mali. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Rome, Italy. http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2856e/i2856e.pdf Retrieved 24th October, 2014.
[23]	Fogel, W (2004). The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2004).
[24]	Goomes, R and Petrassi, F (1996). Rainfall variability and drought in sub-Saharan Africa since 1960. FAO Agrometeorology Series Working Paper No. 9. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.
[25]	Gsänger, H and Heufers, R (1999). Poverty-Oriented Social Policy in South and East African Countries. German Foundation for International Development, Berlin 280 pp.
[26]	Koopman-Henn, J (1989). Food Policy, Food Production, and the Family Farm in Cameroon,
[27]	In P. Geschiere & P. Konings, (eds.), Research Report, N° 35, Part II, pp. 531-557.
[28]	Leiden: African Studies Centre. The Netherlands.
[29]	Krohn, L (1995). Consumer protection and the law: a dictionary. ABC-CLIO.
[30]	Laird et al., (2011). The inter-weave of people and place: biocultural diversity in migrant and indigenous livelihoods around Mount Cameroon. International Forestry Review Vol. 13 (3).
[31]	Neba, A (1999). Modern Geography of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd Ed). Bamenda: Neba Publishers. 204 pp.
[32]	Pinstrup-Andersen, P (2009). Agricultural research and policy to achieve nutrition goals. Poverty, Insecurity and Development 1: 353-370.
[33]	Scott, A (1991). "Prediction of Consumer Behavior by Experts and Novices". Journal of Consumer Research (Journal of Consumer Research Inc.) 18: 251-256.
[34]	Simo, J (2009). Challenges to Chieftaincy Today: Governance Issues and how Fons Strategize to Overcome the Obstacles of Overarching Structures in the Western Grass fields of Cameroon”, In E. Tamajong, (ed). Les Mutations en Afrique, Yaoundé: Presses d’UCAC, pp. 159-193.
[35]	Smith et al., (2006). Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa (International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, 2006).
[36]	Schmidt-Soltau, K (2003). Rural livelihoods and social infrastructure around mount Cameroon: Background information for the mount Cameroon socio-economic, geographical information system (MC-SE-GIS), GTZ Publications, 2003.
[37]	Sunderland et al., (2011). Forests, biodiversity and food security. International Forestry review Vol. 13 (3).
[38]	World Bank (2011). Food price hike drives 44 million people into poverty. Press Research No: 2011/333/PREM.
[39]	Http://web.worldbank.org/wbsite/external/news/0,contentMDK:22833439~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00. html
[40]	Yengoh, T; Armah, F and Onumah, E (2010). Paths to Attaining Food Security: The Case of Cameroon. Challenges 2010, 1, 5-26.