Download PDRT_Marketing_en

Regional Cassava Processing and Marketing Initiative
FIRST REGIONAL MEETING OF IFAD ROOTS & TUBERS PROJECTS
14-16 November 2007
Hotel Somatel - Douala, Cameroon
Cassava processing and marketing

Contribution of the PDRT to
marketing cassava and
cassava products in Benin
COMMUNICATION PRESENTED
BY
Eric Patric TETEGAN
Officer in Charge of the Primary Processing and Marketing Component
Roots and Tubers Development Programme
(PDRT)
Parakou
REPUBLIC OF BENIN
Cassava processing and marketing

1. Introduction
2. Planned activities
3. Results
4. Constraints
5. Future outlook
Cassava processing and marketing

Introduction
 The marketing of cassava and its products is still poorly
organized and individual;
 Gari:
 The main product marketed (about 40% of production)
– followed by chips, lafun, starch, flour and alcohol;
 Consumption: 33 kg/year/child and 87 kg/year/adult;
 Marketing: controlled by private operators;
 Prices: vary according to national and regional
circumstances and harvests of cereals (maize) and other
R&Ts (yam).
Cassava processing and marketing

Introduction
•
Collection markets, assembly markets and distribution
markets can be distinguished, organized around three major poles:
South, Centre and North.
– The South provides more than 75% of national cassava and
cassava product supplies (assembly centres or collection
markets);
– The Centre provides about 20% of national cassava and
cassava product supplies (export zone toward the south and
north);
– The North is a zone re-exporting products from the Centre to
the Sahel and the north of Nigeria.
•
Other than chips for human consumption, where the same trends
as for gari are observed, marketing of cassava products, especially
cassava flour, is starting to take off.
Cassava processing and marketing

Planned activities
 Carrying out two market studies (national and African);
 Carrying out a national survey of food consumption;
 Training members of inter-village marketing associations (AIVCs)
and processor women’s groups (GTs) in keeping operating
accounts and drawing up business plans;
 Encouraging the creation of gari exchanges;
 Promoting the use of cassava flour and the manufacture of flours
(of cassava and cassava-wheat);
 Organizing AIVCs in relation to existing marketing channels;
 Collecting and disseminating information on the prices of cassava
products;
 Supporting AIVCs in organizing primary collection;
 Facilitating the establishment of partnership contracts between
AIVCs and users of R&T products;
 Organizing exchange visits for GTs and AIVCs.
Cassava processing and marketing

Results (between 2002 and 2007)
• Two market studies carried out, one at the national level, the
other at the African level;
• A national survey on the consumption of R&Ts and their
products carried out;
• An action plan for marketing cassava drawn up;
• 19 AIVCs created and boosted for primary collection, storage
and resale of products;
• 4 gari exchanges created and established;
• A national register of traders in cassava products drawn up;
• Various actors put in contact with each other (processors/
traders/users of cassava products).
Cassava processing and marketing

Results (between 2002 and 2007)
•
Tasting sessions organized and agricultural fairs attended with a
view to making cassava products better known to the public;
•
Collaboration with the National Office for Food Security Support in
collecting market information (2002-2006);
•
Several radio broadcasts made on topics concerning the marketing
of cassava and its products;
•
15 warehouses and 10 storehouses built alongside main roads and
inside a market;
•
70 villages with high cassava production opened up by constructing
109 km of rural service roads.
Cassava processing and marketing

Private actors and their roles
•
Women processors: sell the various products they have made or
bought to traders or consumers;
•
Traders (primary collectors, dealers, wholesalers, retailers): generally
buy from producers or middlemen and resell either to other middlemen
or to end-users;
•
Transporters: transport products from where they are made or
collected to markets;
•
Storekeepers: ensure the handling and safekeeping of the products
stored within warehouses and storehouses.
Types of collaboration with the PDRT
– Training of traders in conservation/storage and management
techniques;
– Supply of information to traders on prices and market
opportunities;
– Construction of storehouses and marketing warehouses.
Cassava processing and marketing

Lessons learnt
• Marketing is still a problem because of:
Poor grasp of statistics,
Lack of organization of actors,
Major price fluctuations,
Difficulties in locating and disseminating market
information;
• The development of a pipeline approach
is still a priority.
Cassava processing and marketing

Difficulties encountered
• Poor organization of actors and therefore a poorly
integrated chain;
• Poor grasp of supply and demand by the actors;
• Major price instability partly because of the difficulty of
making a market information system accessible to the wider
public;
• Little product promotion;
• Little respect for hygiene and quality standards;
• Poor access to financial resources;
• Inaccessibility of the major production zones.
Cassava processing and marketing

Challenges
• Building of cassava traders’ capacities for organization and
management in order to develop their professionalism;
• Persuasion of government authorities to create an incentivizing
macroeconomic environment;
• Establishment of an information system enabling the actors in the
sector to take greater advantage of market opportunities;
• Refocusing of the activities of gari exchanges towards providing
services (Regional Cassava Processing and Marketing Initiative –
IRTCM);
• Updating of traders’ range of cassava and its products;
Cassava processing and marketing

Activities to be carried out
• Supporting wrap-up of studies of the European, African and
Benin frontier markets (IRTCM);
• Training PDRT staff and operators in implementation of
marketing plans and strategies (IRTCM);
• Organizing promotion campaigns (IRTCM);
• Boosting traders’ capacities
transactions (IRTCM);
for
using
• Building awareness/Training traders
standards and traceability (IRTCM).
Cassava processing and marketing

contracts
regarding
in
quality
Activities to be carried out
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boosting traders’ capacities to manage their activities;
Lobbying of government authorities for cassava flour to be
incorporated into wheat flour;
Collaborating in establishing a local-level information system
(IRTCM);
Boosting the capacities of gari exchanges (IRTCM);
Updating registers of existing traders;
Organizing meetings, boosting the capacities of target groups and
making television spots on cossette drying (IRTCM);
Organizing tasting sessions for R&T products (IRTCM);
Building the awareness and boosting the capacities of the various
actors concerning quality standards and traceability;
Putting traders in contact with microfinance institutions (including
NGOs).
Cassava processing and marketing