Government and Non-Governmental Organisation Led Agricultural Development Projects and the Accumulation of Social and Economic Capitals in Mezam, Cameroon

Government (GO) and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) undertake agricultural development projects especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where agriculture-dependent livelihoods are predominant. Agricultural development has been accompanied by a theoretical debate vis-à-vis who is best placed to steer the process. Unfortunately, empirical evidence to refute or ramify the theoretical contestations are extremely limited. This article contributes to the literature by comparatively analyzing the effects of GO) and NGO–led agricultural development projects on social and economic capitals in Cameroon. Mixed methods were applied on stakeholders of four selected GO-led and four NGO-led development projects in Mezam division in the North West region of Cameroon, chosen due to its long history of having both GO and NGO-led agricultural development projects. A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from randomly selected 180 beneficiaries, including 90 from GO and 90 from NGO projects, and 120 project staff that is 15 (2 top, 5 middle and 8 lower management) per retained organization. Recall was applied to construct before-after comparisons with interviewees, in the absence of baseline information. In-depth interviews and observations were done with selected project staff and beneficiaries, respectively. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0, while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Results show significant increase in the growth of social and economic benefits for respondents from both GO and NGO-led projects (p < 0.05), though higher for NGO-led projects. The study concludes that agricultural development by both organizational types can enhance social and economic development. Further studies are needed to ramify these results. Comparative analyses between project staff and beneficiaries can highlight any differences in them, in terms of perceptive and actual impacts of GO and NGO-led agricultural projects on social and economic capitals. Comprehensive assessments based on all livelihood capitals are recommended to ground these contentions.