Dynamics of Ginger Zingiber officinale Cultivation and its Socio-economic Impacts on the Livelihood of Farmers in Santchou (West Cameroon)

Zingiber officinale locally known as gingier is an annual plant. It is one of the most important species in household, with an important socioeconomic impact and a high medicinal value. To attain our objectives, we formulated the hypothesis that: the dynamism of ginger cultivation in Santchou is due to the introduction of an ameliorated seed. To verify it, we proceeded by the collection of data. The methodology used was the direct and indirect observation with the aid of questionnaires and interview guides to a well determined population of 80 producers through a random selection and 3 resource persons. This research permitted us to collect the following information. Ginger was introduced in Santchou just after the closure of the Société de Développement de la Riziculture dans la plaine de Mbo (SODERIM 1997). However, during that period only one variety was produced but a few years later, due to a high demand by industries and households, producers were motivated into research for a more productive and profitable variety which could help them to reduce their poverty and gradually ameliorate their livelihood. The introduction of a new and more productive variety in the locality around 2008-2009 associated to physical and human factors like: favourable temperatures between 19 and 20°c, favourable precipitations within 1800-2800mm, fertile soils (clay soils or sandy clay soils, feralitic soils with a luminous texture) with a high labour force have all favoured a high degree of dynamism in the cultivation of zingiber officinale cultivation in Santchou. The high demand associated to the voluntary of population and natural factors mentioned above explains the evolution from 54, 7 he to 233 he in 2010 to 2018 respectively and from 1090, 4 tons in 2010 to 3920, 4 tons in 2017. We can therefore understand that despite the fact that, zingiber officinale is a plant with a high nutritional and medicinal value, there is still no specialised national agricultural program in this agricultural production. Despite all these, farmers continue producing to satisfied the demand of industries and that of households on the local market with a personal aim of ameliorating their living conditions.