Do Quality Standards Affect the Growth of the Fisheries Sector in Cameroon?

Abstract

This article aim’s to assess the effect of quality standards on the growth of the fisheries sector in Cameroon. Cobb-Douglas function, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation method and the stationary test (Augmented Dicky Fuller and Phillip Perron tests) were employed. In the light of the results obtained, we noted that in the short term, the quality standards are negatively and significantly correlated with the growth of the fisheries sector in Cameroon, but in the long term, we observed a positive correlation. Indeed, a 10% strengthening of quality standards is accompanied by a decrease in the growth of the Cameroonian fisheries sector of about 8.61%. Faced with the demanding nature of quality standards and with a view to making the fisheries sector efficient and attractive in the long term, we recommend that the public authorities implement a national strategy based on effective and relevant management of human and financial resources, aimed at supporting fisher folk on one hand, and on the other hand, improving the quality of institutions.