MODERN TRENDS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN CAMEROON AND WAYS TO ENSURE ITS SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract

It has been established that agriculture is the backbone of Cameroon's economy, where 80% of the labor force is engaged in the agricultural sector and provides 22.3% of gross domestic product and 30% of its export revenues. The investigated branch forms the commodity supply of agricultural products both on the domestic and foreign markets, the following types of products: cocoa, coffee, cotton, bananas, palm oil, tobacco, tea, pineapple, corn, millet, sorghum, yams, potatoes, beans and rice. It has been determined that the livestock sector has been developed throughout the country and plays an especially important role in the northern region of the country. It has been proved that the main goal of the country's agricultural development is to ensure food security, whose achievement is strongly influenced by globalization of climate change. For the country under study, the country's orientation towards a "product concept" is characteristic, in which the main objective is to ensure the physical and economic availability of agricultural food. The strategic priorities in the country's agricultural development, which include the mobilization of local resources for intensive production taking into account environmental requirements, are highlighted. It is substantiated that today specialized regions have been formed in relation to the production of certain types of products, which allowed to increase the productivity of agricultural crops. It is noted that there are differences in indicators of productivity of agricultural production in farms and research stations, which proves the existence of unused reserves for improving production efficiency. The characteristic features of development of agricultural production of the country are systematized: low level of technical support; a manifestation of the tendency to increase the land of farms; the prevalence of small commodity producers; low income farmers; predominance of informal economic relations; use of manual labor; complicated access to loan financing sources; low level of involvement of commodity producers in value added chains. It is proved that under conditions of intensification of investment activity in the country's agriculture and realization of the foreseen measures of the strategic national plan, conditions and preconditions for effective development, modernization of production infrastructure, access of farmers to sources of financing and other components of sustainable development will be formed. It is highlighted that one of the conditions for the sustainable development of agriculture in the country is the intensification of agricultural production, which will promote ecological and social sustainability. Important instruments for its achievement are technological innovations in the direction of introducing new or improved agro technology of cultivation and modern management practices, new breeds of farm animals and poultry, integrated practices for improving soil fertility and widespread replacement of manual labor. Innovative solutions need to be coordinated with the specifics of the production process, and in terms of environmental and water and energy intensity. Key words: agriculture, food safety, farmer, innovation, investment attractiveness.