Profitability Analysis of Sweet Orange Production in Mamfe Municipality, Cameroon

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the profitability analysis of sweet orange production in Mamfe municipality, Cameroon. The study employed primary data collection through self-administered questionnaires to sweet orange farmers and a total of 200 samples were selected. The study used financial profitability analyses and percentage ranking to estimate the result. The gross return and net return for a hectare of the sweet orange orchard were 14155000 FCFA and 11759200 FCFA respectively for a 12 year sweet orange orchard. The NPV was estimated to be 4447824 FCFA per hectare of sweet orange orchard which indicates that sweet orange production fetches higher returns. The estimated BCR was 3.95 for a hectare of sweet orange orchard which shows that investment in sweet orange production is feasible for farmers. The production of sweet orange production was also found to be a profitable investment since the IRR was high (34.836%). The results also revealed that profits from sweet orange production have an impact on the livelihood of farmers. The result from the percentage ranking shows that the major constraints of sweet orange farmers are credit facilities, lack of agrochemicals, absence of extension services, high cost of farm inputs, high cost of labor, pests and diseases, and bushfires. The study concluded that sweet orange production was profitable and recommended that decision makers should promote sweet orange production via easy agricultural credits and others. This is a wise step towards improve well-being in Mamfe municipality in particular and Cameroon at large.