Bananas and plantains constitute an important staple food to millions of people in the world. In Cameroon, gender-based studies on plantain traits are still inexistent and there is a need to understand how gender influences preferences and prioritization for plantain characteristics. The RTBfoods project is undertaking studies on user preferences in relation to plantain quality traits in Cameroon and Nigeria.

To achieve this, a participative survey was carried out within the framework of RTBfoods Project in eight rural areas of Cameroon namely: Bouba, Sokelle, Song-mayo and Kombe in the Littoral region, Balessing, Penka Michel, Bafounda and Bamendjing in the West region. The main activities implemented with people that are acknowledgeable of plantain included key informant interviews, gender-disaggregated focus group discussions, market interviews and individual interviews. Data obtained from this survey were coded in themes and analyzed as described in the methodology developed by Forsythe et al., 2021.

The study revealed that plantain is man’s crop as it gives much income than any other crop. Besides, men decide on the variety of plantain to put in farm, while women mostly decide on how the harvested plantain will be used. Men appreciate plantain that has a dark green peel color, unlike women whose priority is the maturity of the fruits or the hardness of the fruits on touching. The planting material is usually gotten from the previous farm most of the times irrespective of the gender.

It is relevant to obtain priority traits on a gendered-perspective. This information will enable breeders develop plantain varieties that meet the expectations of the consumers, thereby ensuring food security in sub Saharan Africa.