Smallholder resource management strategies: A framework for building sustainability in the Cameroon rainforest

A multi-method analysis is presented of the land use patterns and resource management strategies of remote forest communities of the central African humid forest zone. The study site is the sparsely populated Dja forest in Cameroon's South and East Provinces. Cropping, gun hunting and trapping are the major sources of livelihood. Efforts to reduce wildlife exploitation curtail households sources of protein, cash income, and lead to increase cropping pressures in the reserve and peripheral forests. Data from focused characterization and diagnostic surveys of land use patterns and households management strategies are presented.; Three principal field types are identified with the villagers cropping patterns. Households earn incomes from sales of forest products and from diversified farm and non-farm enterprises in addition to incomes from cropping. Villages with relatively large populations and close proximity to motor roads engage in greater number of income enterprises and put more emphases on food field activities for market. Households in more isolated and smaller villages devote more time to subsistence cropping and different levels of forest resources exploitation. Mean differences in land use patterns and management strategies are significantly greater among household groups within villages than between villages.; Analyses are presented on the Dja smallholder management system and its linkages. Village population or size is identified as the most important underlying factor of variation in the households field management intensification strategies. Proximity to market towns or motor road and household size and dependency ratio are important factors of variation in the Dja smallholder on-farm and non-farm enterprise diversification strategies. Six groups of households are distinguished with respect to village circumstances, household characteristics and resource management strategies. Analyses on the food, income and forest resources exploitation effects of the household groups strategies are also presented. Households which management strategies involve more diversified livelihood activities in addition to cropping, generate more total revenue and have lower rates of mature forest clearing and wildlife uptake compared to the households which strategies are highly focussed on food and tree crops activities.