article · Discover Sustainability
Agricultural development across sub-Saharan Africa is frequently influenced by local factors such as population movement, yet the micro-level effects of migration on farming practices remain under-researched. An investigation into the Santchou landscape in Cameroon examined how in-migrants influence local agriculture, drawing on surveys from 149 households across four communities and five key informant interviews. The findings reveal that economic motivations and regional socio-political crises have driven substantial migration into the area. In turn, these new arrivals have accelerated the adoption of agricultural technologies and facilitated a transition from extensive farming to intensive cultivation. Notably, migrants have introduced market gardening, a practice common in their origin area of the North West Region. Over a twenty-year period from 2003 to 2023, arable land in Santchou expanded by more than 60 percent, demonstrating the significant role of migration in reshaping land use and rural development.
Understanding how displaced persons and economic migrants influence local farming helps policymakers design better regional development plans. Rather than merely straining local resources, incoming populations can introduce modern farming techniques, intensify crop production, and expand productive land, offering potential benefits for food security and rural economies experiencing demographic change.
The findings point to practical opportunities for agricultural input suppliers, agrotechnology providers, and extension services targeting intensive farming and market gardening in migrant-dense rural areas. This observational research provides empirical evidence of an existing shift in farming practices rather than a tested product, suggesting that direct commercial applications remain at an early, planning-oriented stage for businesses tailoring services to rapidly evolving rural markets.
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Abstract Agricultural development is a recurring process in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this, the extent to which micro-level changes triggered, for instance, through migration, shape agricultural development still accounts only for a very negligible amount in the literature. Using the case of Santchou, an agro-dynamic landscape in Cameroon, this paper analyses the source and typology of migrants in three communities and evaluates the effect of migrants on the type of agricultural practices. A representative sample of 149 households was conducted in four communities within the landscape. This was complemented by key informant interviews (N = 5). Based on the analysis, the following conclusions are plausible: Firstly, while economic migrants account for a very significant proportion of the migration picture in the Santchou landscape; the over half a decade of socio-political crisis in parts of Cameroon has equally triggered massive in-migration into this area. Secondly, the most significant effect of migration is the increase in the adoption of technological innovations in agriculture and the shift from extensive to intensive agriculture. The latter is associated with the increasing introduction of market gardening—a practice which is predominant at their source location (North West Region). Thirdly, a comparison of three steps of land cover/use change in Santchou showed that between 2003 and 2023, a more than 60% increase in the surface area covered by arable land was registered. This paper provides empirical evidence to edify migration literature with an emphasis on the role of in-migrants in shaping agricultural development practices.
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DOI: 10.1007/s43621-025-00976-6
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