Faced with food insecurity, the focus is on skills. A workshop on capacity building for local flour producers with a view to structuring, qualifying, and professionalizing the sector was held from December 2 to 5, 2025, in Bertoua.
The goal is clear: to make cassava and sweet potato flour credible alternatives to imported wheat. To achieve this, the workshop organized by the Support Service for Local Development Initiatives (SAILD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) focuses on systematically strengthening the capacities of women producers. Around 20 women processors from the East and Adamaoua regions have undergone intensive training aimed at taking their artisanal know-how to the level of standardized and professional production.
“We help women entrepreneurs to set up a well-organized supply chain,” explains Kevin Boucheke, Technical Assistant for the SAILD project. This support begins with improving technical skills. Teaching methods for adjusting moisture levels, incorporating gluten to improve bread-making, or mastering drying times: knowledge that transforms everyday practices. “I learned that we can add gluten to our cassava flour to make it even more suitable for baking,” says Lene Rabiatou, a cassava and potato processor.
Professionalize the industry
Beyond technical aspects, capacity building includes a crucial component: standardization. The workshop demystified the procedures of the Standards and Quality Agency (ANOR). “I learned that in order to comply with the standard, you first have to purchase the standard document,” said Ms. Mebah, president of Scoop Women Entrepreneurs. Understanding and applying these standards is an essential step in accessing the formal market and entering into contracts with bakers. It is a matter of replacing uncertainty with quality, the foundation of any lasting commercial relationship.
This training has a direct operational goal: to facilitate strong partnerships between women producers and artisan bakers in the Center. The bread-making tests served as neutral ground for jointly assessing the potential of improved flours. The result is trust built on expertise. “As of today, we can say that in the East, we have suppliers of high-quality cassava and potato flour,” says Kevin Boucheke.
The message from the ILO, conveyed by Gilles Njike, ILO-KOICA Project Manager, encourages this professionalization: “We must continue, we must persevere, and we must diversify our sources.”
The Bertoua workshop thus lays the foundations for autonomy built on expertise. By investing in human capital, this project outlines a path to food resilience based not on simple substitution, but on the added value of local know-how.
- Jean Kana
