Farmers complain they are losing much of their seasonal yields to pest infections and lack of preservation chemicals.

One of the cultural dishes, achu, which is now highly consumed in the cities, is becoming scarce in the Douala metropolis. Since the beginning of this year, the prices of this delicacy, essentially made from the cocoyam called elephant ear, continue to skyrocket. There is roar in downtown Douala, with buyers – women and restaurant owners – searching every corner to get good cocoyams. Yet they end up giving a sign to a busy shopping exercise that did not yield ample results. That is the situation that took Cameroon Tribune to the markets of the economic city; first to Sandaga, then Central Market and other big markets in the city as well as some restaurants at Deido. In spite of our rounds of the market, we could but conclude that the city is losing an essential cultural pride and prestige of Cameroon. Even Sandaga, cocoyam hub, had no vestiges.

It is against this backdrop that we join households and achu restaurants’ visitors to surprise aloud at the scarcity and farmers’ inability to target the problem at its roots. The causes of achu scarcity are two folds: first there was poor yield late last year which persisted to September 2010. Second, post-harvest crop infections have drained the markets of the food crop. Most of the elephants ear we saw in downtown Douala were either rotting or infected. Mariana, crop seller, at the Central Market disclosed that though most of the cocoyams look good physically they are rotten inside and this is a serious problem farmers face. She said the farmers who are based in villages around Souza complained they find they face numerous limitations to preserve the crop even for as short as a week, which was never usual before this year. “At first the cocoyam could stay even more than six weeks without rotting; now it is rapidly deteriorating and we are losing just a lot. We don’t have enough money to buy chemicals for post-harvest preservation!” she lamented. Agbor Albert Tanyi, achu specialist and restaurant manager at Bonantone corroborates this adding that he loses a lot in terms of money to bad cocoyams which he only discovers at peeling and most at pinding. He said a heap of about 20 cocoyams, which he now buys at FCFA 2,000 from Deido and FCFA 2,200 from Dakar Market can only produce less than five loaves of achu (even more so with the help of other crops added to it like unripe bananas) to the eight loaves as of last year. “I am still selling it to encourage patronage for other dishes, else I would have stopped selling achu,” Agbor went on.