In Cameroon, the project supports cassava value chains. The project focuses on commercialization of cassava products such as gari and dried cassava chips. Although fufu is the product most consumed in Cameroon, gari is the most marketed for the urban local market and for exports in the sub-region and to Europe.

Traditional processing involving manual grating is being increasingly replaced by mechanized grating. Larger scale processing plants have always had problems with finding adequate supply of roots. While there are successful small processing units with mobile rasps, there are some medium-scale processors and exporters based in Douala and Yaounde. Their supply is mainly made of cassava paste (water fufu) and sometimes fresh roots. With the support of the All ACP Commodities Programme, producer groups improved their business relationship with these buyers, and improvements in the collection system and transport further increased the efficiency of these value chains. The project is building upon these experiences.

A project inception workshop was carried out in Yaoundé that brought together key stakeholders in the cassava value chain and set the course the project’s major activities in the country.

The project is supporting policymakers and institutions important to the sector.

• Aligning national and regional strategies with the development of improved regional market integration for the cassava sector.
• Conducting a national level workshop that will discuss setting up a mechanism to improve the coordination of cassava value chain actors.

The project is focusing on developing inclusive business models throughout the cassava value chain.

• Capacity building for producer organizations and SMEs in value addition and business management.
• Developing inclusive business models for the production and commercialization of gari, dried chips and fermented flour.
• Evaluating existing business relationships between producers and their current buyers, and developing a strategy to improve the business model.

Sustainable market-led production intensification is a major area of the project.

• Carrying out a diagnostic study on seed systems for cassava, including the current levels of availability and extension, where the seed producers are located and what are their constraints related to access to improved varieties.
• Developing a strategy to improve linkages between research, producers and processors in order to facilitate access to inputs and quality planting material adapted for each agro-ecological zone.

The project is working to strengthen access to financial services and climate change risk management tools.

• Identifying information gaps on the volume of trade in cassava for financial service organizations and other actors.
• Training local providers of financial services on approaches to financing the cassava value chain.
• Analysing the impacts of climate change on cassava to identify its impact on production variability.
• Developing climate risk management strategies and tools for the various agro-ecological zones and training agricultural support services on the use of these tools.