Urban Expansion and the Dynamics of Farmers’ Livelihoods: Evidence from Bamenda, Cameroon

Akhere Solange Gwan,Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi

doi:10.3390/su12145788

Abstract

There is growing interest in the need to understand the link between urban expansion and farmers’ livelihoods in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including Cameroon. This paper undertakes a qualitative investigation of the effects of urban expansion on farmers’ livelihoods in Bamenda, a primate city in Cameroon. Taking into consideration two key areas—the Mankon–Bafut axis and the Nkwen Bambui axis—this study analyzes the trends and effects of urban expansion on farmers’ livelihoods with a view to identifying ways of making the process more beneficial to the farmers. Maps were used to determine the trend of urban expansion between 2000 and 2015. Twelve farmers drawn from the target sites were interviewed, while three focus group discussions were conducted. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze perceptions of the effects and coping strategies of farmers to urban expansion. Using the livelihoods approach, farmers’ livelihoods repertoires and portfolios were analyzed for the periods before and after urban expansion. Between 2000 and 2015, the surface area for farmlands in Bamenda II and Bamenda III reduced from 3540 ha to 2100 ha and 2943 ha to 1389 ha, respectively. This was followed by a corresponding increase in the surface area for settlements from 2100 ha to 3540 ha in Bamenda II and from 1389 ha to 2943 ha in Bamenda III. The expansion process has affected farmers’ income, farm sizes and farming types, natural capital, and their standards of living. Most of the farmers have employed coping measures to include the diversification of income opportunities, social networking, and agricultural intensification. Future efforts could target land use regulations to stem the uncontrolled rate of settlement expansion, intensive farming to increase productivity and processing to improve the value chain in a bid to increase income levels and provide long-term food self-sufficiency. This paper suggests further quantitative investigations to ground the current assertion.

Highlights

Urban expansion is one of the determinants of economic growth in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); this partly explains why it is widely studied today [1]
Evidence of urban expansion was limited during this period with little patches identified around Takem and Mambu
In Bamenda II, for instance, there was a reduction in the surface area for farmlands from 3540 ha to 2100 ha and a corresponding increase in the surface area for settlements from 2100 ha to 3540 ha

Summary

Introduction

Urban expansion (the extension of built-up areas or infrastructure in general from the city towards the rural areas) is one of the determinants of economic growth in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); this partly explains why it is widely studied today [1]. The history of urban growth indicates that the urban areas on earth are the most dynamic, the trend is usually or most often from the urban towards the rural areas, which are characterized by less built-up areas, irrigation, and other water management systems [3] This could indicate an attribute to the increasing adoption of the option of horizontal instead of vertical expansion and compact city development. The definitional problem lies mainly in the difficulty of delimiting the spatial extent of this dynamic region, and in the interpretation of the notion of transition [5] This transitional element can be measured by a wide variety of criteria that are used to distinguish rural from urban, including population density, the presence or absence of built-up areas and infrastructural characteristics, administrative boundaries, and the predominant economic activities that take place [4].

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