Can commercialization of NTFPs alleviate poverty? A case study of Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill.) Pierre ex Pax. kernel marketing in Cameroon

Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill.) Pierre ex Pax. kernel (njansang) commercialization has been promoted by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in project villages in Cameroon with the aim to alleviate poverty for small-scale farmers. We evaluated to what extent development interventions improved the financial situation of households by comparing project and control households. The financial importance of njansang to household livelihoods between 2005 and 2010 was investigated through semi-structured questionnaires with retrospective questions, focus group discussions, interviews and wealth-ranking exercises. The importance of njansang increased strongly in the entire study region and the increase was significantly larger in project households. Moreover, absolute numbers of income from njansang commercialization as well as relative importance of njansang in total cash income, increased significantly more in project households (p < 0.05). Although the lower wealth class households could increase their income through njansang trade, the upper wealth class households benefited more from the projects' interventions. Group sales as conducted in project villages did not lead to significantly higher prices and should be reconsidered. Hence, promotion of njansang had a positive effect on total cash income and can still be improved. The corporative actors for njansang commercialization are encouraged to adapt their strategies to ensure that also the lower wealth class households benefit from the conducted project interventions. In this respect, frequent project monitoring and impact analysis are important tools to accomplish this adaptation.

Producers’ motivation for collective action for kola production and marketing in Cameroon

Collective action has been used as a strategy to improve the benefits of smallholder producers of kola nuts in Cameroon. Despite demonstrated benefits, not all producers are involved in the collective action. The presented study used a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) namely the Collective Action Behaviour model (CAB model) to analyse kola producers’ motivation for collective action activities. Five hypotheses are formulated and tested using data obtained from 185 farmers who are involved in kola production and marketing in theWestern highlands of Cameroon. Results which were generated using Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach for Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) showed that farmers’ intrinsic motivators and ease of use influenced their behavioural intent to join a group marketing activities. The perceived usefulness that was mainly related to the economic benefits of group activities did not influence farmers’ behavioural intent. It is therefore concluded that extension messages and promotional activities targeting collective action need to emphasise the perceived ease of use of involvement and social benefits associated with group activities in order to increase farmers’ participation.

Blended learning in der Hochschullehre?

Im Zuge der Verbesserung der Lehre an deutschen Hochschulen und Universitäten sind in den letzten Jahren bereits vielfältige Innovationen hinsichtlich der Gestaltung von Vorlesungen und Seminaren in den unterschiedlichen Fachdisziplinen deutlich geworden. Bei größeren Vorlesungen besteht das Problem eine kognitive Mitarbeit von allen Studierenden zu fördern, vor allem in Mathematikvorlesungen. In den letzten Jahren konnten bereits vielversprechende Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten im Bereich der Fachmathematikvorlesungen eingesetzt werden, die ganz im Trend der digitalen Medien liegen. Diese sind aus dem Alltag vieler Berufsgruppen, wie auch der Lehre und in der Freizeit nicht mehr wegzudenken. Im Folgenden wird eine Pilotstudie mit ersten Ergebnissen beschrieben. Das Projekt M@thWithApps startete im WS 2012/2013 in der Fachvorlesung „Mathematische Anwendungen“ mit 120 Studierenden des Grundschullehramts an der Universität Kassel. Die Studierenden wurden mit Tablet-PCs ausgestattet, die über den gesamten Vorlesungs- und Übungszeitraum eingesetzt wurden. Somit stellt sich die Frage nach den Chancen und Risiken dieser besonderen Form des Lernens, verbunden mit einem Tablet-PC.