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Food insecurity remains a persistent policy issue in many developing countries. While socio-political, epidemiological, climatic, and productivity-related factors have received attention regarding food insecurity, a rarely considered factor is the changing quality of the soil, a natural resource base that has the potential of increasing or reducing vulnerability to food insecurity. The use of organic soil amendments may be socioeconomically and environmentally advantageous. This study examines the inherent relationship between the use of organic soil amendments and food security among smallholder farming households. Using the seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model and the recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model on nationally representative household-level data from Cameroon, we find evidence that the use of organic soil amendments is positively associated with household food security. We also find the use of organic soil amendments to be associated with reduced levels of mild, moderate, and severe food insecurity. Empirical evidence is also suggestive of a positive association between crop diversification and food security. The results further show that households with larger farm sizes tend to use more organic soil amendments than households with smaller farms. Taken together, our findings confirm another pathway of improving food security with implications for the broad path toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 of ending hunger.

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The objective of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between informal risk management strategies, such as
crop and nonfarm diversification, and technical efficiency of food crop producers in Cameroon. The
methodology is based on (a) estimating the efficiency levels from a non parametric Data Envelopment Analysis
(DEA) approach and (b) using statistics tools (Pearson correlation and mean tests) to assess the impact of
diversification on efficiency. Data is obtained from tomatoes, potatoes and banana-plantain producers in 19
villages and peri-urban zones in the Center and West regions of Cameroon. Results indicate low levels of
efficiency and a negative correlation between diversification practices and efficiency.

Évaluer les impacts des recherches en agriculture sur la société : outils, méthodes, études de cas.

This study examines the effects of natural resource endowments on economic growth in Africa based on a sample of 37 African countries from 1996 to 2019. The sample is split into resource‐rich and resource‐poor countries. By employing the autoregressive distributed lag model with a linear interaction between natural resource revenue and institutional quality, a contingent effect of natural resource revenue on economic growth is established, both in the long and short run. Contrary to previous related studies, this study reveals that the resource status of the countries concerned has a significant impact on the nature of the results obtained. Specifically, in resource‐rich countries, weak institutions have been found to exacerbate the negative relation between natural resources and economic growth in the long run, whereas in the short run, these variables are found to be complementary toward enhancing economic growth. Meanwhile, in resource‐poor countries, institutional quality and natural resource revenues individually compete with each other in relation to growth, but when interacted, their combined effect positively and significantly improves economic growth in the long run.

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