Building long-term relationships between producers and trader groups in the non- timber forest product sector in Cameroon]

Summary table of trust items. Elements of trusts Majority of producers trust traders on this item? Majority of traders trusts producers on this item Existence of mutual trusts Honesty information on quantity No No No Honesty information on quality No No No Reliability Yes No No Benevolence No No No Flexibility Yes Yes Yes Total number of yes 2/5 1/5 1/5 producers have less confidence that traders will change initially agreed buying terms when market conditions improve for the better. This interpretation follows producers’ narrative comments during data collection that traders often use fluctuating prices in urban markets to bargain for lower buying price, which according to the producers may not be true. This means that ignorant of reliable information on market prices, producers’ are forced to operate as price takers. In summary for all the five items used to measure trust, a majority of the producers interviewed do not trust traders on three out of the five items, while traders do not trust producers on four out of the five items (Table 2). Mutual trusts exist for one out of the five items. This means that, despite precautions taken at the beginning of the relationship, partners have not been able to build trust amongst them and may account for the low levels of partnership satisfaction.