Cassva field (Photo FAO)

February 10, 2015, Yaoundé – Cameroon and the FAO have launched the project named ‘’Strengthening the commercial links between small scale stakeholders and the buyers within the roots and tuber value chains in Africa’’, financed by the European Union at the cost of Euros 5 million.   

Cassava and potatoes are the two main crops selected in view of their important contribution to strengthening food security in the beneficiary countries, namely Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Malawi for cassava; Rwanda and Uganda for potatoes.  

The main objective of the project is to improve the livelihood of small scale stakeholders operating within the roots and tuber value chains in the beneficiary countries.

In Cameroon, the activities will mainly focus on strengthening the links between small scale producers and buyers in the sector by promoting sound commercial relationships at the level of the national and regional markets.

The Cameroonian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Essimi Menya, called on the FAO to give due cognizance to existing national policies  in the sector when implementation the project.

Mai Moussa Abari, FAO Representative to Cameroon, confirmed the collaboration with existing projects, saying “that the new project has come to support the FAO regional initiative in Africa for the cassava value chain in Cameroon, which has to date made it possible to build the capacities of women’s groups in the Central, Western, North-west and South-eastern parts of the country”.

The inaugural workshop which was held on February 10, 2015 in Yaoundé “will create opportunities for consultations with various stakeholders in the public and private sectors and to develop a  three year project  work plan for Cameroon”.

It is expected that specific activities would be developed in order to achieve the two overarching results envisaged by the project at the regional level:

• National and regional strategies for the cassava value chain in line with the initiatives backing the development of an integrated roots and tuber market;
• An improved access to information and financial services for small scale producers.