For women farming along the Bamenda Ring Road, producing a good harvest is only part of the business. The bigger challenge often begins after the crops leave the farm, when weak storage, poor record keeping, limited processing skills and dependence on middlemen can turn a potentially profitable harvest into a low income venture.
A two day capacity building workshop in Bamenda is seeking to change that equation by equipping 100 women from 50 cooperatives and groups with practical skills to turn agricultural produce into more profitable businesses.
Organised by UN Women in partnership with the Ministry of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, MINPMEESA, under the ring road and gender project, the training held on August 26 and 27, 2026 focused on business planning, bookkeeping, financial and stock management, marketing strategies, Good Manufacturing Practices and women's entrepreneurship.
The intervention targets groups of women from communities along the Ring Road corridor, including Babessi, Kakar and Befang, with the broader programme covering the six divisions connected by the Bamenda Ring Road, that is Mezam, Ngoketunjia, Bui, Donga Mantung, Boyo and Menchum.
At the heart of the training is a simple proposition which emphasizes that women should not have to remain sellers of raw agricultural products when they can capture more value by processing, packaging and marketing what they produce.
Grace Bangsi Akumbo, a participant from Ngoketunjia Division, said the training had changed how she viewed the maize produced in her community.
“Let me not only give to those people,” she said, referring to middlemen. “I can use those products to transform them to other items.”
She cited maize as an example, saying it could be processed into animal feed or drinks rather than being sold immediately after harvest.
“When the cost of maize has fallen in the market, if I use that maize and transform it to animal feed, it will give me more profit,” she explained.
For Grace Akumbo, however, value addition was only one part of the lesson. She also learnt the importance of knowing whether a business is actually making money.
“But I've been taught how to keep records so that it might help me calculate my business and improve in my business, and know if the business is growing or the business is not growing.” she added
The project responds to a persistent weakness within many rural and peri urban agricultural businesses. Women may produce significant quantities of food, but limited entrepreneurial and managerial skills can prevent them from converting production into sustainable enterprises.
UN Women Project Officer Emmanuel Ajonga said post harvest losses, inadequate storage and limited processing facilities continue to undermine the incomes of women and food security along the Ring Road.
He said many women's farming groups also lack essential skills in business planning, financial and stock management, Good Manufacturing Practices and marketing, leaving them vulnerable to low prices and missed opportunities for value addition.
The training therefore seeks to bridge the gap between production and commercialisation.
Its practical objective is for each participating group to leave with a simple business plan, a functioning income and expenditure recording system, a stock management system, a Good Manufacturing Practices action plan and a marketing plan identifying new market opportunities.
The approach was deliberately practical, combining presentations with group work, demonstrations, role plays, simulations and peer learning.
Training was facilitated by senior officials from MINPMEESA, including Atanga Nelson Nche, Chief of Service for Statistics and Surveys at the Northwest Regional Delegation, Didier Bakwoh Copernic of the same delegation and other ministry personnel.
The involvement of the Ministry is intended to ensure that the skills provided are linked to existing government efforts to promote entrepreneurship and modernise production units.
Opening the workshop, Ngangjo Cliff, Regional Delegate for MINPMEESA, said women already occupy critical positions across the agricultural economy.
“Agriculture is vital to the Northwest Region along the Bamenda Ring Road,” he said, noting that women produce, process, transport and market food products.
He said the training was designed to strengthen the entrepreneurial and managerial capacity of women so they can build stronger businesses, increase incomes, create jobs and contribute more to local economic development.
For participants, the lessons are already beginning to translate into specific plans.
Bantar Glory, representing the Frontier Farmers Group in Nkambe, said she had learnt how to develop a business plan, maintain a cash book and use a stock register.
“These things will help me so that I'll be able to put in the amount that I've used to do a business and see what I gain at the end of each week, month or at the end of the year,” she said.
Bantar Glory, who already processes pear into avocado oil, said the training had expanded her understanding of what could be done with other agricultural products.
“I have come and I have learnt how to transform other things, and so I will go and increase my knowledge on it, so that I will have better yields, better sales and better financial status in future.”
She also plans to take the knowledge back to Nkambe and share it with members of her group and other women in the community.
For women living with disabilities, the training also offered a chance to challenge the assumption that business support must stop at providing financial assistance.
Barah Regina, from Tobin in Kumbo and a member of the Tomnyuyver Association of Persons Living with Disabilities, said she had previously struggled with business management because she did not know how to prepare a business plan or keep proper financial records.
“I now know how to draw business plan. I now know how to keep cash accounts, record keeping and many others,” she said.
She said the knowledge had given her greater confidence to manage her own business and share the skills with others in her community.
Barah Regina, participant from Tobin in Kumbo
“I will take this knowledge to Kumbo. I will not only share with with people with disabilities. I will share with everyone on the community” she said.
The project is designed to extend beyond the two day workshop. Participating groups are expected to submit their business plans to relevant stakeholders, designate trained treasurers and stock managers, maintain regular records and establish mechanisms for internal monitoring and peer support.
Each cooperative is also expected to identify at least two new potential buyers or markets within 45 days, while MINPMEESA will undertake a three month follow up visit, supported by UN Women, to assess progress and provide additional support.
The intended impact is therefore not simply to produce women who have attended a training, but women's groups capable of managing enterprises more systematically, reducing losses, improving product quality, finding better markets and reinvesting profits.
If the lessons are adopted, a farmer selling maize, cassava, potatoes or other crops at the farm gate could increasingly become a processor, manufacturer, supplier or branded food entrepreneur.
That is the shift the project is attempting to make that is from farm produce as a commodity to farm produce as a business opportunity.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Web
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