Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Esther FOSSI
Published on 2024-04-12 12:06:26
The Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, chaired a consultation meeting on the analysis of the market for cassava flour on April 11, 2024.
In 2022, the Bureau of Business Upgrading highlighted that Russia was the leading exporter of wheat to Cameroon with nearly 300,000 tons, followed by Canada (144,000 tons), France (117,000 tons), and the USA (54,000 tons). Since the bankruptcy of the Wheat Development Company (Sodéblé) in 1980, all the wheat consumed in Cameroon has been imported.
When the Russo-Ukrainian war broke out, Cameroon organized itself to develop internal strategies to overcome external dependence. Several offers were submitted, including the development of potato and cassava flour. In January 2022, the brewing company Guinness Cameroon revealed the results of its “Orijinal Challenge,” a competition aimed at celebrating products made in Cameroon. The winner of this challenge was Ernest Claude Ewoty Ndjie, who produces a brand of flour made from cassava peels, which are usually considered waste by most households.
To further expand this flour, the Minister of Trade met with producers on April 11. The meeting was attended by officials from the central and decentralized services of the Ministry of Trade, a representative from the Ministry of Economy, representatives from bakeries in Yaoundé, as well as local producers of cassava flour, including the chairperson of the Board of Directors of Socooproman Coop-Ca, Angeline Akoa, and the promoter of Pafic Sarl, Bertin Tchoffo.
Bertin Tchoffo reported that his company currently has over 150 tons of cassava flour in stock. When combined with the quantities available from other producers, there are approximately 300 tons of cassava flour in stock. Despite a slow start, some bakeries such as DÔVV, Calafatas, and Selecte have started mixing cassava flour with wheat flour, praising the quality of the result obtained.
One of the commitments made is to expand this operation to all regions in the coming weeks, under the leadership of the Ministry of Trade and the Employers’ Union of Bakers in Cameroon. The goal is to encourage more bakeries across the country to use a combination of cassava and wheat flour in the production of bread and pastries.
In 2020, Cameroon imported a total of 860,000 tons of wheat, according to a study on the strategic positioning of the cereal-based products manufacturing sector, released on August 25, 2021, in Douala by the Bureau of Business Upgrading. These imports, which increased by 30,000 tons annually, cost around 150 billion CFA francs.
Read the original article(French) on Journal du Cameroun
