Gendered boiled plantain product profile in Cameroon

Boiled plantain is purchased by both men and women as indicated by marketers in the West and Littoral regions. At community level, the main buyers of plantain include restaurant owners, rural consumers, food vendors and local level consumers. Plantains in Cameroon are marketed principally as fresh fruits, either unripe, half-ripe or ripe, and consumed in boiled, fried, roasted, pounded form, etc. (Ngoh Newilah et al., 2018). The market segments include: (i) Sales on farm borders, (ii)Sales at the market after transportation comprising wholesalers and retailers, (iii) Sales by wholesalers, (iv) Sales by retailers (v) sales by restaurant processors. Plantain's market is clearly dominated by women. The actors are very little organized, in associations or groups. The markets are mainly supplied with plantain from the production basins of the Littoral, South-West and West regions. There is strong seasonality in the supply of plantain in the markets. This results in a permanent fluctuation in the price of plantain which at times attains up to 33% (Folefack et al., 2017). The poor organisation of this food chain makes it difficult to identify its market size, as well any forecast in demand for the next 5-10 years.