• What is oil palm production in Cameroon?
  • Today oil palm cultivation and processing in Cameroon is carried out across a range of scales of production. Hereafter, we refer to mills owned and operated by agro-industrial companies as industrial mills. All other mills, referred to as non-industrial mills, vary widely in terms of design and operation.
  • What drives oil palm expansion in Cameroon?
  • Third, oil palm expansion in Cameroon is predominantly driven by non-industrial producers and coordinated around a burgeoning informal milling sector ( Ordway et al., 2019 ). Cameroon can thus be looked upon as a major region of growth when it comes to oil palm production and expansion in Africa.
  • Are non-industrial producers driving oil palm production in Cameroon?
  • Non-industrial producers are driving oil palm production in Cameroon. We analyze the drivers of oil palm production in Cameroon. Access to information and land tenure systems play a crucial role in farmer decision-making. Market orientation also matters in oil palm production.
  • Are socio-economic and contextual characteristics associated with oil palm production in Cameroon?
  • Our analysis should be seen as suggestive evidence of various socio-economic and contextual characteristics associated with oil palm production among non-industrial producers in Cameroon. The second caveat pertains to the external validity of our findings.
  • Is there a potential oil palm yield gap in Cameroon?
  • In Cameroon, we found that on-farm oil palm yields averaged 5¨C7 tons FFBs ha ?1 throughout the study area and across producer groups, well below the 20 tons FFBs ha ?1 potential yield for the country ( Nkongho et al., 2015 ). The large yield gap points to a major opportunity to increase production on existing oil palm fields.
  • Does clearing forest increase palm oil production in southwest Cameroon?
  • We found that 73% of oil palm producers in Southwest Cameroon reported clearing forest to expand cultivation, based on a survey of 546 farms. The magnitude of expansion was explained by differences in palm oil milling strategies and supply chain integration.