The influence of Marketing on smallholder farmers food security and poverty alleviation in Sub Saharan Africa (Case of North West Region of Cameroon)

A number of Agricultural Economists have written and published articles relating to the marketing of Agricultural produce in Cameroon and most parts of the Sub Saharan Africa. Unfortunately the smallholder farmers problems relating to quantity and quality of outputs, fair price, distribution management and access to markets remain a nut to crack. This study was to find out how marketing can be used to resolve these issues and make the smallholder farmer attain food security and alleviate poverty. The methods used in obtaining the data were the secondary, primary and qualitative. The results show that farmers outputs tend to be low in terms of quantity and quality with ineffective distribution management. These are all due to the fact that they do not adopt the best agricultural practices and access to the market is a big problem. They equally do not have adequate support from the government and the organised distribution channels. The contribution of this study is that it will encourage small holders farmers to adopt best agricultural practices. It has a proposed Business (Marketing) model to aid farmers market their produce. It will equally link them to the National Social Insurance fund so that their social security and status can be enhanced.