(Business in Cameroon) - For four years, thanks to the implementation of the Forest-Savannah Sustainability Project (FOSAS), jointly financed by the Cameroonian government and its Japanese counterpart through the latter’s international cooperation agency (JICA), everything has changed in the village of Andom in the East region which is one of the most isolated in Cameroon. “Many children are now going to school thanks to this project. Parents who do farming have increased their production using the cassava driving and processing facilities,” stated a village resident.

Indeed, in Diang, the FOSAS, which promotes using natural resources to improve peoples’ living conditions while preserving the environment, turned to cassava farming and processing to get Andom’s residents out of poverty.

Four years after the project’s implementation, Andom’s 200 households have produced 33 tonnes of couscous by processing cassava. This keen interest in processing has increased the price of this product on the local market, bringing in additional income to farmers. In the meanwhile, Andom’s households have made a lot of money by selling 800,000 cassava cuttings to farmers in neighbouring communities.