Maternal Participation in Agricultural Production and Population Growth in Cameroon

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the effects of maternal agricultural production on Population Growth in Cameroon. We have as objectives: (a) explore the determinants of Women in Agriculture, (b) assessed the effects of women working in Agriculture on population growth and (c) derived policy implications on the basis of our analysis. To tackle these objectives, we shall make use of instrumental variable (2SLS) model. Empirical results are based on 2011 Demographic and Health survey collected by the government’s statistics office and Department of statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Regarding the determinants of women participation in agricultural production, we observed that mother’s health status, farm size, mother’s education in complete years, urban residence and married women are positively and significantly correlating with women participation in agricultural production. We observed that women participation in agricultural production strongly affects population growth. Other factors positively affecting population growth in Cameroon include mother’s age in complete years, family size, married mothers and father’s presence in the house. This is a gateway towards economic growth, food security and poverty alleviation in Cameroon.