Chapter 16. Enhancing cassava marketing and processing in Cameroon 517
The main difficulties faced by retailers are their exposure to bad weather and other risks, lack of biosafety
and hygienic conditions, weak commercial margins and trade capacities, inconsistencies of wholesalers’
supplies (e.g. waterfufu from North West and fufu from Mbam), and high degree of perishability.
3.3 Exporters
According to their products’ destination, two exporter categories can be distinguished:
Regional exporters
They export to neighboring and bordering countries (Central African countries in general). They source their
products via collectors from producers and processors and send them to their customers based in Congo,
Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, or Nigeria. Loyalty and trust can be found in the commercial relationships
between some producers who have benefitted from PNDRT support and some collectors or direct foreign
buyers (e.g. smallholders from Souza who exclusively produce for a regional exporter to Congo). This type
of arrangement also exists for gari exported to Equatorial Guinea.
Waterfufu is sold by 125kg-packaged bags with an average weekly export quantity of two tons,
amounting to 100 tons a year. It is rather difficult to evaluate the exact quantity as they are mostly part
of the informal sector.
Table 8. Price structure for retail sales on the Douala and Yaoundé markets
Product Type Packaging Average
purchase priceMin sale price Max sale priceGariYellow17Kg (13L) / 2,600F 3,800F
5,66Kg (4 ;33L) / 900F 1 300F
1kg / 153F 225FWhite17Kg (13L) / 5,000F 5,700F
5,66Kg (4 ;33L) / 1,700F 2,000F
1kg / 295F 335FCassava
flourBafia
4Kg (5L) / 800F 1,200F
1 Kg / 200F 300FEastern100 Kg 18,000F 13,500F 24,000F
4Kg (5L) / 700F 1,100F
1 Kg / 175F 275F
Moungo 1Kg / 200F 325FWaterfufuNW 1Kg / 200F 200F
Center 1Kg Not for retail
Shore 1 Kg 200F 300F
Notes: Sale units in use in Douala and Yaoundé differ from the ones in practice that applies in production markets.
On consumer markets, sellers aim give the impression that they offer comparable prices to production markets and
derive margins from using smaller sale units, i.e. 17 kg (13l) buckets instead of those of 20 kg (15l).
Source: PNDRT, 2010