Physical Enclavement and Livelihoods of Peasants in Menchum Valley, North West Region, Cameroon

Abstract

This work seeks to evaluate, the links between the physical effects of enclavement and the development of the rural sector in Menchum Valley of the North West Region of Cameroon. It postulates the deterrent effect of physical enclavement on the livelihood of the people. Data collected from the field between 2017 and 2019 using the survey method (quantitative and qualitative methods 96 questionnaires administered, 6 focus groups, and 530 sample size), was treated using SPSS and Excel. The findings brought out 3 basic issues which are: enclavement naturally affects the inputs and output in the area, it discourages peasants’ agricultural sales as the main source of livelihood and inaccessibility induced by physical enclavement[1] principally in the rainy season makes movement in and out of the area difficult and renders the people poor due to the fact that there are few buyers and many sellers thus supply greater than demand and prices are low. A total of 80% of the respondents think that the Menchum Falls (nature’s gift to the Valley) can be a very strong force in disenclaving Menchum Valley and improving on their quality of live of the people if a dam to harness electricity is constructed on it.