In Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rural women play a central role in food production and local trade. Alongside work on cocoa and coffee farms, many women produce staple food crops, including cassava, maize, sweet potato, groundnut and vegetables, that are essential for household food security and regional markets, and are often cultivated within or close to export crop plantations.
Despite their economic importance, women-led SMEs and cooperatives producing food crops face significant barriers to accessing regional and international markets.
Limited access to SPS information, technical capacity and training restricts their ability to comply with food safety requirements, including good agricultural and hygiene practices such as HACCP. Challenges related to sampling, testing and documentation further constrain market participation, keeping many women-led businesses confined to informal or low-value markets.
A critical but under-explored risk is cross-contamination of food crops cultivated by women and grown near cocoa and coffee plantations. These crops are often exposed to pesticide residues, mycotoxins and other contaminants, undermining food safety, posing health risks for local communities, and weakening confidence in food products traded locally and across borders. The lack of monitoring tools and technical capacity to identify and manage these risks remains a key constraint to the competitiveness of women-led cooperatives.
This Project Preparation Grant (PPG) aims to assess SPS risks and compliance gaps affecting food crops produced by women-led cooperatives in Cameroon and the DRC, and to lay the groundwork for a targeted project to strengthen safe trade. The PPG will examine farming, processing and transformation practices, assess cross-contamination risks, and identify gender-specific barriers to SPS compliance. Activities will include surveys of 150 women-led SMEs and cooperatives, SPS risk mapping, baseline data collection, stakeholder mapping and market prospecting. The findings will inform a future project proposal to improve food safety, expand market access and strengthen income opportunities for women producers.
