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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Agricultural Intensification and Rural Development: The Mandara Mountains of North Cameroon |
Authors: | Riddell, James C. Campbell, David J. |
Year: | 1986 |
Periodical: | African Studies Review |
Volume: | 29 |
Issue: | 3 |
Period: | September |
Pages: | 89-106 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Cameroon |
Subjects: | rural development agricultural intensification Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Development and Technology |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/524085 |
Abstract: | There are areas of Africa that have experienced high population concentrations, environmental constraints, and drought long before the present period; the experience of these areas may provide insights relevant to the search for solutions to problems of land pressure today. This paper focuses on one of these regions, the Mandara Mountains of Cameroon, an area which has sustained a high density agricultural population for centuries. It demonstrates that the successful maintenance of high density populations depends upon the evolution of a production system in which environmental management, social institutions, and agricultural pratices are intimately linked. The issue of agricultural development in the Mandara Mountains is discussed in the context of four themes: an examination of the historical circumstances that led to such high population concentrations; the nature of resource management developed by the people to cope with high population density; what happens when the conditions that led to high population density are changed; and possibilities for interaction between local management practices and exogenous innovations in promoting the development of the region. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |