Characterization of the Sectoral Cocoa Innovation System in Cameroon

Introduced to Africa by the Spanish in the 16th century, Cameroonian cocoa production is one of the oldest in Africa. Carimentrand recommends the introduction of environmental sustainability issues into public action for the development of the cocoa sector. This chapter looks at the implications of this recommendation for the organization of actors who accompany innovation in the cocoa sector in Cameroon. To do this, it proposes mobilizing an analytical framework in terms of the sectoral innovation system (SIS). The chapter characterizes how this analytical framework allows readers to identify the structure of the environment in which different cocoa‐related innovations are born and evolve. The notion of the SIS and production emerged in the 1990s and presents the information collection and processing system. In the agricultural and food sector, this analytical framework was used to analyze the determinants of technological change in industry or biotechnology.