 Two projects funded by the European Union with one common expected result in Cameroon; Bring together stakeholder in the cassava subsector, structure and strengthen their capacities so that they can appropriate and sustain their activities when the projects end.
In 2010, the EU funded the project: Sustainable Production of Cassava and Marketing in the Central African Sub-Region. This project was implemented by the Pôle Régionale de Recherche Appliquée au Developpement des Systèmes Agricoles d’Afrique Centrale (PRASAC) in the six countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) including Cameroon. In 2014 PRASAC brought together farmers, processors, buyers and researchers who eventually created the Cameroon branch of the Platform of Multi-Actors of the Cassava Value Chain (PMA-CV Manioc). In 2015, a regional CEMAC Cassava Value Chain was structured; the President of the Cameroon branch doubled as president of the Regional Platform. Created at the end of the project at the initiative of PRASAC, the newly created Platforms faced serious challenges. An audit on the Platforms noted the importance of creating such platforms while highlighting the causes of the non-functioning of the existing ones.
During the Cassava Conference organised jointly by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and PROPAC in Yaounde in 2016, an advocacy was formulated and directed to the FAO to restructure and strength the capacity of the existing platforms.
In 2017, within the framework of the Project ‘’African Roots and Tubers (ART): Linking Smallholder famers to Buyers;’’ funded by the EU, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) brought together multi-stakeholders of the cassava subsector (microfinance, processors, bakers, buyers and farmers) in Cameroon. These stakeholders themselves agreed to restructure the existing platform in Cameroon to make it more inclusive, including Microfinance Institutions and Bakers. They put in place a taskforce and after six months of intensive brainstorming, under the technical supervision of the FAO, a General Constituent Assembly. The founding members of this new platform included two MFI and the Baker’s syndicate. This restructured platform which was given the name Inter-Professional Cassava Value Chain Platform of Cameroon (PIP-CV-Manioc) went to work immediately using their own generated funds to organise workshops and carrying out lobbying. Together with other platforms in the country, discussions on the production and consumption of local flours intensified and eventually the Platform of Promoters of Local Flour in Cameroon (PROFALCAM) was created. 83 of the 100 founding members of PROFALCAM are members of the FAO restructured PIP CV Manioc of Cameroon. Of the 83 members are the President, and the 1st Vice President who doubles as the President of the National Syndicate of Bakers of Cameroon.
PROFLCAM says thank you the European Union, the FAO, PRASAC, MINADER and MINEPAT.