This article is part of the promotion of agricultural extension and advisory services by private actors. The objective is to analyse the potential of agricultural input distributors in terms of agricultural extension and advice. Data was collected in the town of Dschang from 22 input distributors, 65 farmers who are their clients, and 03 staff members of the departmental delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Menoua. Data from the questionnaire were analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 22.0 and Excel 2013, and those from the interview guide were transcribed and thematically analysed. The input distributors emerged in a context of state disengagement from services previously offered to farmers and post-crisis liberalisation in the 1980s. Most of them are women (59.1%) who own or manage shops owned by their husbands. Most of these input sellers (47.62%) are between 25 and 35 years old, with a higher educational level (40.9%) and sometimes have training related to agriculture. The clientele of these agricultural input shops is mostly made up of small individual farmers (95.4%). These input shops offer various extension and advisory services to their customers. These services include among others: the provision of inputs in return for payment, technical and practical advice on the use of inputs, monitoring and support for customers in their agricultural production activities, and information on innovations in the field of inputs. Through these services offered to farmers, input shops play the role of extension workers and agricultural advisors and are also an undeniable source of information. For almost all farmers surveyed (99%), input distributors are their main source of agricultural advice and information. The provision of these services by input dealers contributes to improved agricultural yields and increased incomes for the farmers who benefit from them. For 90.8% of the farmers surveyed, their standard of living has increased thanks to the services provided by input dealers. Input distributors need to be reconsidered as full-fledged actors in the agricultural extension and advisory system and be supported to play this role effectively and efficiently. The overall performance of the agricultural extension and advisory system depends on it.

Support for occupational integration of youth in the agricultural sector is a major contemporary concern in most developing countries. Not only does this support is perceived as a means to provide self-employment to many unemployed youth, but also a way to boost the rapidly emerging of a new generation of farmers adequately prepared and equipped to meet the challenges of today's agriculture and future. The scope of this article spans the critical analysis of the strategies implemented through the stimulus package for the integration of youth into agriculture with particular focus in the Menoua division in the West Region of Cameroon. First, the study highlights those aspects of the support provided by these projects in the context of the integration of youth, and second other aspects which would require more emphasis for an optimal integration. Out of 18 stimulus packages put in place to support the integration of youth in the Menoua division, 10 were subject to investigation. The findings show that 5 out of the 10 stimulus packages assessed deal with a specific type of support (including information sharing, training, or financing of vocational projects for the youth) meant to facilitate youth integration. In addition, 5 others work simultaneously on information and knowledge sharing, training and resource mobilization including the granting of funding. It is clear from the study that the insertion rate of youth assisted varies depending on the type of support provided to them by the various listed projects. The stimulus support packages operating in the Menoua division funded vocational projects of 336 young farmers for a total funding of XAF 57,991,444 in 2013 (Euro 88,408). This support accounts for XAF 172,593 (Euro 263) per young project proponent, an amount somewhat insufficient to sustain a viable project. Hence, support in the implementation of vocational projects is key as several hurdles are encountered during the realisation of the project setting up phase, including lack of access to productive assets as land tenure. Such support would also provide mentoring of youth as part of the implementation of their respective projects. We equally suggest setting up in each locality a consortium or platform of actors and stakeholders engaged in the support to the integration of youth to ensure pooling of efforts and synergy, complementarity and coherence across interventions. It appears challenging for just one structure to offer full support needed by a young project proponent, and the scales of municipality and division might be the most appropriate for operating these platforms.

Due to gradual exhaustion of mineral oil reserves and the problems of climate change, studying the possibilities that can be offered by biofuel in improving agriculture, can constitute a useful solution. Therefore, this article falls within the framework of technologies transfer with the purpose of exploring the different possibilities by which red palm oil can substitute diesel oil as a source of energy.
Indeed, in the Moungo region of Cameroon, many palm oil extraction units are still processing palm nuts using diesel oil as a main source of energy. On the basis of the socioeconomic study held in the Moungo region of Cameroon, these palm oil extraction units are categorised according to different source of energy that is petrol, diesel oil, electricity and human energy. The mains processes through which palm nuts are being processed are described. These processes do not vary according to the sources of energy used and considering the different step involved in the process, the pressurization can be done using either manual press or motorized press. The analysis of the possibilities by which palm oil can substitute diesel oil as source of energy through comparison of cost of production according to the source of energy shows that all the extraction processes are efficient. However, expenses related to the supply of energy vary not only with the type but also with the quantity of source energy required by these presses
In term of ranking, we found that the cheapest one is electricity followed by diesel oil, petrol and human energy in that last order. Substitution of diesel oil with palm oil is cheaper for presses consuming 0.5 litre of diesel oil per ton of palm nut processed while with a press requiring 1 or 1.5 litres of diesel oil per ton of palm nut, electricity represents the most efficient energy source followed by palm oil, diesel, petrol and human energy. Palm oil as a source of energy is therefore shown to be the most efficient followed by diesel oil, petrol and human energy in none electrified areas of palm oil production.
In conclusion, our experiment suggests that it is possible to use palm oil as fuel in diesel engines. However, these engines should previously be adapted in order to avoid possible technical breakdowns. Beyond considerations of technological and economic feasibility, this study thus highlights the risk of competition between food use and energy conversation of some agricultural products, which could contribute to jeopardize food security in many contexts.