Abstract: The main objective of the present analysis is to explore and quantify the contribution of
agricultural exports to economic growth in Cameroon. It employs an extended generalized Cobb Douglas
production function model, using food and agricultural organization data and World Bank Data from 1975
to 2009. All variables were non stationary and of an order I (1), so the Cointegration test was conducted
for long run equilibrium. All the variables confirmed cointegration and as such the conventional vector
error correction model was estimated using the Engle and Granger procedure. The findings of the study
show that the agricultural exports have mixed effect on economic growth in Cameroon. Coffee export and
banana export has a positive and significant relationship with economic growth. On the other hand, cocoa
export was found to have a negative and insignificant effect on economic growth. Base on our findings, it is
recommended that policies aimed at increasing the productivity and quality of these cash crops should be
implemented. Also additional value should be added to cocoa and coffee beans before exporting. When this
is done, it will lead to a higher rate of economic growth in Cameroon
1.0 General Introduction
There is an increasing interest in the relationship between export and economic growth. Theoretically, it
has been argued that a change in export rates could change output. Export growth, therefore, is often
considered to be a main determinant of the production and employment growth of an economy which is
shown in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth (Ramos, 2001). The most important and crucial aim of the
developing countries in general and Cameroon in particular is to achieve a rapid economic growth and
development and exports are generally perceived as a motivating factor for economic growth. The desire
for rapid economic growth in developing countries is attained through more trade. There is no shortage of
empirical and theoretical studies regarding the role of exports in raising the economic growth and
development of a country. The classical economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo have argued that
international trade is the main source of economic growth and more economic gain is attained from
specialization. According to the export led growth hypothesis, exports being the major source of economic
growth have many theoretical justifications.
First, in Keynesian theory more exports generate more income growth through foreign exchange multiplier1
in the short run. Second, Export raises more foreign exchange which is used to purchase commodities such
Foreign trade multiplier also known as export multiplier may be defined as the amount by which national income of
a nation will be raised by a unit increase in domestic investment on exports. As exports increase there is an increase
in the income of all persons associated with the exports industriesas machinery, electrical and transport equipment, fuel and food which is motivating factors for the
economic growth of any nation. Third, exports indirectly promote growth via increased competition,
economies of scale, technological development, and increased capacity utilization. Fourth, many positive
externalities like more efficient management or reduction of organizational inefficiencies, better production
techniques, positive learning from foreign rivals and technical expertise, about product design are accrued
due to more exports, leading to economic growth. In fact, over the past decade, Cameroon, like other
countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), has experienced a dramatic decrease in export growth in general,
and agricultural exports in particular, causing problems that need to be solved urgently (Amin, A.A 2002).
There are two main largely opposing schools of thought explaining the decline in agricultural exports.
One stresses factors that are external to the individual country: such as the slow volume of growth of world
primary commodity markets and the deteriorating terms of trade. The other school of thought emphasizes
factors that are internal to the country, that is, the domestic policies that have affected export supply
adversely. In brief, the arguments are that the cumulative effect of government’s agricultural policies has
tilted domestic producer prices downwards and thus reduced export supply. Also the explicit taxation of
agricultural exports by marketing boards as well as the relative neglect of the sector in overall development
planning, has brought down both domestic producer prices and export supply.
Cameroon’s economy is predominantly agrarian and agriculture with the exploitation of both renewable
and exhaustible natural resources remaining the driving force for the country’s Economic growth.
Cameroon’s economy performed very well for the period 1961to1985, with agriculture supporting the
economy from 1961to1977.This sector plays a pivotal role in the economy and exerts important effects on
other sectors. Before the beginning of crude oil exports in 1978, agriculture accounted for about 30% of the
gross domestic product (GDP) and 80% of total exports. With the advent of oil, the share of agriculture in
GDP declined to 24% by 1987, before increasing to 27% in 1990, and its contribution to export earnings
fell to 53% (MINEFI, 1981, 1993; McMillan, 1998).
The two decades immediately after independence (1960s and 1970s) Cameroon experienced considerable
growth in production and in earnings from agricultural exports. Between 1965 and 1980, agricultural output
grew by 4.2% (World Bank, 1989). During the period when agriculture was the dominant economic activity
the country depended on it for non-oil foreign earnings. It accounted for almost 34% of GDP, employing
80% of the labour force with 85% of the total population of the country deriving their livelihood from it
and providing 85% of exports (Daniel Gbetnkom and Sunday A. Khan, 2002). The manufacturing sector
grew rapidly, although on the whole the agricultural sector was stagnant with varied rates of growth across
commodities. The food production sector grew, while the export crop production sector declined. After
more than two decades of rapid economic growth, Cameroon’s economy collapsed in the mid-1980s to late
1990s (partly because of the sharp fall in world prices for its main export commodities, corruption and
cronyism and poor domestic economic management).
The decline in the GDP growth was sudden and severe, from 8% to less than -5% per year for the period.
Because the period of economic expansion was much longer than that for economic contraction and given
the stylized facts2, the magnitude of the economic decline was unexpected and devastating. Given that the
overall success of the agricultural export promotion strategy will depend among other things on what
factors constrain export growth and on the responsiveness of producers to changes in price and non-price
Stylized facts are introduced by the economist Nicholas Kaldor in the context of a debate on economic
growth theory in 1961, expanding on model assumptions made in a 1957 paper. In social sciences,
especially economics, a stylized fact is a simplified presentation of an empirical finding. A stylized fact is
often a broad generalization that summarizes some complicated statistical calculations, which although
essentially true may have inaccuracies in the detail..
incentive structures. A better understanding of key variables affecting export performance and the direction
and magnitude of the relevant elasticities is desirable. (Amin, A. A. 1996)
Despite this downward trend, the sector still plays a leading role in the economy. This strength comes
principally from the export crop sub sector, which is based on cocoa, coffee, cotton, timber, banana, rubber,
palm oil and tobacco etc. The first three of these crops account for the lion’s share of Cameroon’s
agricultural export earnings. Before 1978, it contributed 65% of total exports and 88% of agricultural
export revenue, with 28% for cocoa, 55% for coffee and 5% for cotton. After 1978, their contribution
declined slightly, to about 81% of agricultural export earnings, with cocoa contributing 29%, coffee 44%
and cotton 8% (Gbetnkom, 1996; BAD/FAD, 1992). However, since 1980, the performance of the
agricultural sector in Cameroon has not only slowed down, but has been highly variable. The collapse of
export commodity prices, distorted macroeconomic and agricultural policies prevailing in the environment,
world recession, and production bottlenecks acted negatively on output and export performance.
During that period, cocoa and coffee output declined at a rate of 1.13% and 4.9% per year, respectively.
Banana was negligible in the export structure of the country from before independence up to 1975, with a
contribution to total exports at 1.4%, compared with cocoa 25.4%, coffee 24.1% and cotton 3.1% (BEAC,
1975). This brings us to the point of interest of this present research which is to examine the contributions
made by agricultural exports to economic growth in Cameroon. The focal point would be on the export of
three agricultural products viz: cocoa, coffee and banana reason being that these products had lion shares in
the country's growth and development profile and partly because of data availability. The choice of these
three products export is also due to budgetary constrains faced in the country. It makes it difficult for the
government to implement a growth strategy on all the cash crops. Thus it will be wise for states to target
certain cash crops that contribute most to her economic growth such as the aforementioned cash crops.
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Since there is no country which is self sufficient and in a state of autarky, one nation has to trade with many
others so as to enjoy goods and services with a comparative disadvantage in its production. This is the case
with Cameroon where a majority of her labour force is employed in the agricultural sector while few others
are employed in the manufacturing and tertiary sectors. With the large labour force and other favourable
natural conditions, it gives her a comparative advantage in the specialization in agricultural products such
as crude-oil, and petroleum products, wood products, cocoa beans, aluminium, coffee, cotton, banana etc as
exports to countries like Italy, Spain, France, United state, United Kingdom, China etc.
Cameroon for several years has experienced an economic recovery from the exportation of agricultural
products (coffee, cocoa, banana, cotton). But this sector was seriously affected by a fall in world prices of
primary products which led the country into serious crisis in the late 1980s. This is basically from the fact
that the country depends solely on the proceeds from this sector for the wellbeing of her nationals.
After the budgetary year of 1985 to 1986; Cameroon economy went into serious recession where all
economic indicators experienced a heavy drop in revenue from exportation. This drop affected petroleum
as well as other primary products that were exported at the time. This drop was estimated at about 329
billion FCFA this being about 8.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The economic sector even
further worsen during 1986-1987 due to the persistent drop in the price of the main products exported
(petroleum, coffee, cocoa, banana, cotton). The economic growth rate was hence forth negative with
exchange rate dropping by half between the years 1985 to 1988 (BEAC, 1989).
However we would realize that from time immemorial most agricultural exports in Cameroon have witness
a substantial drop in revenue due to fluctuations in world prices. These products became less competitive as
compared to manufacture goods bought from other countries thus leading to an unfavourable terms of trade.
This has strongly affected their share contribution to economic growth in the country. It would be of
interest to study the past and present trend of three of such produce viz: cocoa exports, coffee exports andbanana exports towards economic growth in Cameroon. The above issue raised brings us to the focal point
of this research work which is to examine the contribution of agricultural exports to economic growth of
Cameroon with a case in point being cocoa, coffee, and banana exports. These cash crops have a long
historical base and revenue from them has being a strong force towards Cameroon’s growth achievement.
Though fallen world prices seriously affected the revenue from the sale of these products, each of them has
supported the economy towards a growth path at different trends. It will also be of great interest to examine
which one amongst them has a greater success story towards economic growth and development in
Cameroon. This problem is transform in to the following research question: Specifically, what is the
effect of each of the selected export cash crops on economic growth in Cameroon?
1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The general objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between agricultural export and
economic growth in Cameroon. In a specific manner our objective is to investigate: - the effect of cocoa
exports on economic growth in Cameroon; - the effect of coffee exports on economic growth in Cameroon;
- the effect of banana exports on economic growth in Cameroon and to put in place policy
recommendations depending on the results of our findings.
1.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
In order to accomplish the objectives of this research study, we would develop a main hypotheses followed
by other specific hypotheses as such there is a positive and significant relationship between agricultural
exports and economic growth in Cameroon. In a similar manner our specific hypotheses would also be
stated in an alternative form as follows: - There is a positive and significant relationship between cocoa
exports and economic growth in Cameroon; - There is a positive and significant relationship between
coffee exports and economic growth in Cameroon; -There is a positive and significant relationship between
banana exports and economic growth in Cameroon.
1.4 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
With the recent policies put forth by the government in order to increase the number of Cameroonians
involved in this area of economic activity, it is important for research activities of this kind to be intensified
towards such a domain so as to increase the foreign exchange earnings, thus improving the balance of
payment situation leading to economic growth. Historically, no country has developed without
transforming its primary products for exports. This study will add to knowledge building on some issues of
agricultural economics and also address certain problems plaguing the exportation of agricultural products
in Cameroon. It will also be important to institutions and other thinking minds that might still have the
interest to research on this area. Also, this work could serve as a roadmap for further solutions to problems
of multilateral trade in the agricultural domain. The agricultural sector which many Cameroonians are
involved in could be revamp if research study of this nature is intensified. The amelioration of the
agricultural sector will enable policy makers to implement appropriate policies towards the sector thus
ensuring the welfare of all.
This research work is also important to other economies that may use some of the policy recommendations
raised here to implement in their own country in other to redress some of the problems they are facing in
this domain Also, this research work may serve as a tool for devising measures of revamping the
exportation of agricultural and non agricultural products by Cameroon and other countries. The results
should be of interest to decision makers, as an input into formulating economic policies, and for those
concerned with formulating and analyzing changes in the economy. Again this work may serve as a
comparative study between the proceeds from the exportation of the three agricultural produce. This will
enable the government to know where to divert her expenditure and also to come up with measures aimed
at attaining a favorable balance of payment.
SHARE THIS PAGE!