**5. Conclusion**

In this study, we have proposed to analyse the sustainability issues of the productive and market dynamics built around soybeans, speculation subject to strong demands for international competitiveness and which at the same time has a strong potential for improving farmers' incomes. The conditions and modalities for the development of this speculation corroborate the importance of temporality and spatiality in the soybean diffusion process, which is driven by SODECOTON in the face of the persistent context of the cotton crisis. The productive dynamics described responds to the spatial diffusion trajectory structured in three stages: the initial stage of appearance and growth of soybean cultivation from 2008, the intermediate stage of acceleration of growth observed since the 2015–2016 agricultural season, and the final stage of saturation and decay not yet started. The temporality of the first two stages testifies to the rapidity of the environment penetration through technical innovation which combined varietal selection, technical routes, choice of soils, trading strategy. This speed also shows the capacity of Sudano-Sahelian farmers to take ownership of innovations and optimise their value.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

**Author details**

Box 320, Yaoundé, Cameroon

2014-4-page-53.htm

**References**

Suisse.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Eric Joël Fofiri Nzossié1,2,3\* and Christophe Bring1,3 \*Address all correspondence to: fofiri\_eric@yahoo.fr

1 Department of Geography, University of Ngaoundéré, Cameroon

Société. Université Rennes 2, 2009. Français. tel-00422109v2

phie, Université de Ngaoundéré, 135p.

2 Associate Researcher, UMR 201 "Development & Societies" IRD-IEDES, France

3 The Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development, P.O.

[1] Diasso Yankou, « Dynamique du prix international du coton: aléas, aversion au risque et chaos », *Recherches économiques de Louvain*, 2014/4 (Vol. 80), p. 53-86. DOI: 10.3917/ rel.804.0053. URL: https://www.cairn.info/revue-recherches-economiques-de-louvain-

[2] Griffon M. (2003). 'Quand l'agriculture africaine va-t-elle commencer à répondre aux enjeux du futur ?' (Griffon M. 2003). In *Cahiers Agricultures,* Volume 12, pp. 141-143. [3] Arvor Damien. Etude par télédétection de la dynamique du soja et de l'impact des précipitations sur les productions au Mato Grosso (Brésil). Sciences de l'Homme et

[4] WWF. 2014. The growth of soy: Impacts and solutions. WWF International, Gland,

[5] Nyahnone T J., 2017. Le développement de la culture du soja dans les fronts d'extensions cotonniers du Nord-Cameroun: Le cas du Mayo-Rey. Mémoire de master de géogra-

The authors thank the services of the North Regional Delegation for Agriculture and Rural

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) Production in the Cameroonian Cotton Basin…

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Development for facilitating the gathering of information.

However, from an agronomic point of view, the low productivity (on average 1 tonne/ha) is evidence of the weight of the constraints which limit the optimisation of the productive potential of almost 2 tonnes/ha revealed by experimental trials in 2006, mainly on local varieties. The study highlights in particular the virtual absence of mechanisation of production, a situation affecting both medium and large farms from a spatial point of view, as well as the absence of a seed industry with the corollary of the use of so-called "all-comers" seeds. The major environmental issues in the Sudano-Sahelian region call for priority to be given to the development of intensification trajectories for soybean cultivation.

The growing development of production, although backed by a spatial sprawl trajectory, offers the opportunity to build a value chain that articulates four strategic links: provision of agricultural services, production, distribution and processing. As pointed out above, the investment of distribution and processing players in supporting the productive dynamics testifies to the challenges that the need to perpetuate regional supply raises today. The mobilisation of the value chain approach will have made it possible to grasp the relationships existing between the categories of actors that make up the value chain and to identify their weaknesses. The attempt to assess the financial effects induced by the marketing of regional production has above all revealed the potential that soybean speculation abounds in terms of the circulation of annual money supply.

Ultimately, the results obtained corroborate the hypothesis which maintained that soybean brings out the structuring elements of a value chain, but its viability remains precarious by constraints inherent in the proven inability of farmers to empower themselves to optimise production and control the marketing and poor technical supervision of the crop. It appears that these constraints are jeopardising the prospects for the sustainability of a soybean value chain despite growing demand. The control of all the activities of the chain by private actors constitutes a risk of reinforcement of dependence of farmers who are strongly subjected to the strategic choices of these actors. This observation suggests that public authorities should be strongly challenged in their regulatory role, but above all to support local dynamics by facilitating some procedures, such as streamlining the procedures for creating accounts to increase the proportion of cooperatives registered with the administration in charge of agriculture. The seed sector is a strategic segment which is almost neglected. The sustainability challenges of the soybean value chain are therefore strongly questioned.
