Food Crops Cultivated and Marketed in the South West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to illuminate the various food crops that are cultivated for household consumption and also used as items of trade in local transactions in the South West Region of Cameroon. The South West Region is one of the ten regions that make up the Republic of Cameroon. The other nine regions are Central, Littoral, Eastern, Adamawa, South, North, Extreme North and North West. The culinary history of the people of the South West Region is particularly attractive and impressive because of a multiplicity of factors, including the ethnic, linguistic, nutritional, and cultural diversity of the region. The major ethnic groups found in the region include Bakweri, Bambuko, Ejaghan, Bakundu, Balundu, Bakossi, Anyang, Banyang, and Mbo. Due to the presence of Mount Fako which is the highest mountain in West Africa, the region has the most fertile soil found in the country. This has led to the cultivation of a variety of export crops such as cocoa, coffee, bananas, oil palms, rubber and tea. Contrary to cash crops, the prominent food crops grown in the region both for domestic consumption and also as items of local trade include yams, 
pumpkins, watermelon, okra, oil palms, cola nuts, cocoyams, maize, plantains and others. Each of these food items discussed in the paper is broken down into varieties, and the date when each variety was introduced into the South West Region of Cameroon is also given. The prominent source of animal protein in the Region is essentially beef which is quite expensive because cattle must be imported from the Northern Regions of Cameroon. It is worth mentioning the point that very few cattle are reared in South West Cameroon because of the prevalence of the tse-tse fly which causes trypanosomiasis, a disease which kills cattle. Some people in the rural areas keep fowls, sheep, goats and pigs but these often do not form part of the regular diet. These domesticated animals are used as an integral part of bride-wealth payment, and also play a part during festivals and traditional celebrations. To make a request or settle a dispute requires a gift which is often given in livestock. For this paper to be realised, two categories of sources were consulted, including primary and secondary sources. Primary sources were essentially archival materials, while secondary sources were both published and unpublished. Published sources included printed articles and published books. Unpublished sources for their part were theses and dissertations.