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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences - Vol. 13, No. 1
Publication Date: February 25, 2025
DOI:10.14738/dafs.131.17721.
Tchoumboue, N. (2025). Small Scales Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon: Socio-Economic and Technical Characteristics
Assessment. Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 13(1). 01-16.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Small Scales Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon: Socio- Economic and Technical Characteristics Assessment
Nsah-ko Tchoumboue
ORCID: 0009-0007-8536-184X
University of Buea
ABSTRACT
Food security in Africa mostly depends on Food milling industries. Until now lack of
institutional rules and hygiene are some of the main causes responsible of low
performances of food milling industries in Africa. The purpose of this work is then
to analyze the socio-economic and technical characteristics of local mills in order to
improve their performance. At this effect, a survey was conducted on 99 food
milling industries randomly selected in Dschang city town. Direct measurements
and observations were also carried out using specified tools. The collected data
were codified using Microsoft Excel 2021. The descriptive analyses were performed
using SPSS 21.0. The main results of this work were as follows: women are more
involved in the food milling activities. Almost all the food milling industries (92.6%)
possess Hammer mill and Flattener mill machine to grind dry foodstuffs and wet
foodstuffs respectively. Machine capacities are still low which vary from the highest
values of 30 kg per hour to the lowest value of 10 kg per hour. Based on number of
working machines, 9 categories of industries were identified. The lifespan of those
machines ranges from 5 to 7 years. None of the machines (0%) in industries possess
the manual operation to carry out maintenance and provide healthy practices in
food milling. Around 90% of the milling machines are made from metals and iron
materials with industrial paints that could have negative effects on food quality.
Law regulation related to lifespan and Machine’s design should be put in place in
order to Protect consumers from food spoilage and intoxication by bacterial and
ferrous contamination.
Keywords: Food milling industry, Inventory, Machine characteristics, Survey, Healthy
practices.
INTRODUCTION
Food security is still remaining a major problem for Africans countries. In order to increase the
food access for all Africans, the development of small-scale food milling industries is increasing
every day in Africa cities. Small milling industries are dealing only on foodstuffs grinding
activities at the household level (Nzudie et al., 2021); (Sneyd, 2014). Economically, the growth
rate of those activities is between 20 to 30% annually in Cameroon (FAO, 2019 and Sneyd,
2014) meaning that the local milling activity have a considerable impact in terms of job
creation, income distribution and reduction of social inequalities (Mathieu et al., 2021); (Knorr
and Watzke, 2019). In well-developed Industry, the raw material should be treated as an
economical commodity, so the improvement related to the raw material is never ignored by the
whole supply chain stakeholder (Nurprihatin et al., 2021). Although populations of Africa are
used to process the raw food in small scale food milling industries due to the quality of foods
and the high number of people per households, the processes should be carried out following
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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 13, Issue 1, February- 2025
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
the industrial procedures. Some raw foods like Maize grains or Cassava are grinded into flourish
to obtain fufu corn or fufu cassava as the final product (Yar et al., 2023). Due to population
growth and food increasing demand as mentioned earlier, the food milling industries in
Cameroon are dramatically increasing without legal laws controls and healthy practices. The
milling activities are sensible due to the fact that some healthy and technical principles should
be respected in order to keep food from infestations (Yar et al., 2023); (Balali et al., 2020);
(Sabillón et al., 2020). Such an activity also requires a certain mastery of the processes which
range from the design, use and operation of food processing machines to respect for hygiene.
Keeping food waste to a minimum will provide competitive advantages to food businesses in
the sector and will provide direct environmental and sustainable contributions to the food
ecosystem (Aka and Akyùz, 2023). From that, an important interest in milling processes is to
maintain the nutritional composition and organoleptic quality of the finished product and to
prevent also wastes (Viaux et al., 2009); (Aguilera, 2018).
In fact, the cost of food waste was estimated at 1 trillion USD in 2014 making the need to address
food waste a financial affair (FAO, 2021). Furthermore, the environmental impact of food waste
includes each resource consumed and all pollutants emitted to produce, process, transport and
ultimately dispose of food fit for consumption (Dean et al.,). Food quality is still a problem for
African populations. In fact lack of hygiene and contamination during food processing could be
one of the main causes of increasing cancer disease in African countries (Bankole et al., 2013);
(Ludwig, 2011); (Ankar-Brewoo et al., 2020). In order to reduce those diseases and improve
decision making, food processing inventory should be available concerning local food
processing industries. As from now previous studies on food survey (Sop et al., 2008); (Nzudie
et al., 2021); (Silapeux et al., 2021) have been carried out mostly in food losses and health. As
socio-economic and technical analysis of food processing in Cameroon as concerned, little
informations are available to perform a good decision making to improve milling activities in
Cameroon. From (Kolawole et al., 2019), Inventory management has become a vital operational
weapon for firms that intend to survive competitive pressures in their manufacturing
industries. Inventory errors associated with processed foods could negatively influence firm
performance and invariably affect end-consumers’ health, studies on inventory management
strategies focusing on developing economies (Opoku et al., 2021). The good manufacturing
performance means to produce items with satisfactory and superior quality, accelerate delivery
time and offer excellent aftersales service (Ke et al., 2020). Related to food milling industry,
Standards and controls, food processing procedures, machinery quality and quantity,
Machinery design and lifespan should then be studied in order to optimize the performance of
small scales food processing industries and increase food security (Moerman, 2017); (Musiari
et al., 2024); (Pessôa and Becker, 2020). The main purpose of this research is to characterize
milling industry, study the effect of inventory management on the food mills performance and
put in place a process flow chart in order to improve the performance of local milling activities
in Cameroon.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Area
The study was carried out in the city of Dschang with 800 thousand populations distributed
around through 25 quarters. The data were collected using a survey done randomly.
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Tchoumboue, N. (2025). Small Scales Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon: Socio-Economic and Technical Characteristics Assessment.
Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 13(1). 01-16.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/dafs.131.17721
Survey Sheet
A survey was submitted to the managerial team of the industry. The survey sheet was made up
of 73 questions as follows: the first section contains 12 questions; the second one was made up
of 11 questions, 22 questions for section 3, 10 questions for section 4, 13 questions for section
5 and 6 questions for section 6. About 100 food milling industries were evaluated for the study.
Evaluation Criteria of Food Industries
The criteria of evaluation were based on social, technical and economic items. For social items,
the number and age of workers, the area position, gender, healthy conditions of workers were
evaluated. Concerning technical parameters evaluation, machines characteristics as volume
hopper, the daily mass of food processed, the lifespan, the duration of grinding, the type of food
processed etc.., were evaluated also. Finally, the economic factors were determined like passive
and active costs.
Survey Realization
The survey method used was the experimental survey (Ampah et al., 2021). The food milling
industries were chosen randomly over 22 quarters of Dschang city. One the questionnaires was
put in place, it was test to 10 randomly selected Industries as pretest. Once the pretest ended
to adjust the questionnaires, the method consists of addressing the questionnaires directly to
the managerial team of the industries. Interviews and observations were also carried out to
complete the survey. In fact, some characteristics of the milling machines as physical
parameters (volume of the hopper, duration of milling, color of the final products, healthy
practices and cleaning) were also determined during the survey.
Data Analysis
Once the surveys were completed, the data collected were codified using Excel 2021 software.
Descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS 21.0 software.
Cartography of the Industries
A cartographic view of food milling industries in Dschang city town was realized using ArcGIS
software. A category of industries was put in place per quarter and per number of grinding
machines
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Mapping of Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon
The food milling industries are distributed all along the Dschang city town. It can be seen in
Figure 1
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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 13, Issue 1, February- 2025
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Figure 1: Food milling industries distributed around the city
From the Figure 1, 3 major groups of industries are identified. The first group of food industry
is distributed around 5 quarters oriented through the North-East of the town. The second group
is distributed around 12 quarters in the south direction of Dschang town. The last group
belongs to 5 quarters in the north-west direction of the town. The group 2 has the highest
number of millers (28) followed by the group 1 (21) and the group 3 has the lowest number of
millers (15). In fact the population density is bigger in the group 3 area. Most of industries of
group 2 are based around the local market. Group 1 and 3 belong to quarters situated in rural
areas of Dschang city town. In fact the food milling industry are installed according to
population density.
Socio-demographic Evaluation of Food Milling Industries
The food milling industries are characterized by the following socio-demographic parameters
presented in Table 1. In fact, more women are involved in food milling industries. Although
milling requires a lot of physical effort, it is directly associated with cooking, which is the
prerogative of women in African society (Mathieu et al., 2021); (Sop et al., 2008).
Table 1: Socio demographic evaluation of milling industries
Designation Characteristics Percentage (%)
Gender
Male 17.3
Female 82.7
Age range
15-25 years 6.1
25-35 years 48.0
35 years and more 45.9
Principal activity Yes 56.7
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Tchoumboue, N. (2025). Small Scales Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon: Socio-Economic and Technical Characteristics Assessment.
Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 13(1). 01-16.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/dafs.131.17721
No 43.3
Study level
Primary 14.7
High school 52.6
University graduate 20.0
Never being at school 12.6
Regardless of gender, people from 25 to 35 years old are more involved in food milling
industries; the milling activity requires some experience in the use and operation of milling
machines, which is difficult for young people under 25 years old. Most of the workers (82.7%)
in food milling industries are marred against 16.3% who are single. According to usual thoughts
(Mathieu et al., 2021), Millers have not being in school (Ndangui, 2015). The results show the
contrary where only 12.6% would never have been at school compared to 52% who have
reached secondary school. Among the respondents, 20% have a university degree. This
precisely shows that it is no longer sub-business and this activity should deserve special
attention for any improvement on the organizational or technical level.
Technical Characteristics of Food Milling Industries in Dschang City
Type of Machine Available in Milling Industries:
The machine’s type based on their percentage of appearance is presented in Figure 2.
a b c
Figure 2: Representation and percentage of appearance of milling machines in Industries
From Figure 2, 3 types of grinding machines were individually identified in industries based on
the working operation: hammer mills (Figure 2a), flatteners (Figure 2b) and crushers (Figure
2c). Based on the utility, the survey showed that whatever the food milling industry, the
92.6
3.1
3.1
0 20 40 60 80 100
Hammer mill and flattener
Hammer mill, flattener and crusher
hammer mill
Percentage
Machine's type
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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 13, Issue 1, February- 2025
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Tandem Hammer and flattener machines appear the most in food processing with 92.6%. Only
3.1 % the food milling industry possess hammer mill machines and the three at once
respectively (Doblado-Maldonaldo et al., 2012). The highest occurrence of the couple Hammer- flattener machines are due to the quality of service in cooking process. In fact hammers machine
(Figure 2a) and flattener machine (Figure 2b) are used to grind dry foods like maize and cassava
seeds and fresh legumes like tomatoes, beans, grass peas, alfalfa respectively. All those foods
are used in cooking different type of sauces. Also for economical purpose, it is more lucrative to
have the both machines instead of having just one (Chiron and Fischer, 2008).
Brand of Milling Machine:
Most of the milling machines did have any brand whatever the industries as observed in Figure
3.
Figure 3: Percentage of machine with brand
From Figure 3, four types of brand were observed in industries. Just one is coming from abroad
(Diamant). The others are local brand. Although the grinding machine’s design technology is
mastered (Ampah et al., 2021), there are still to improve like testing and providing the
characteristics of milling machines in order to increase the economical aspect of local milling
industries. With no identification on the machines, it is difficult to follow the constructors based
on the quality of the materials used for design. Also with no brand on machines it shows less of
professionalism in the quality of the work carried out.
This observation goes in line with the fact that all the milling machines (with and without
Brand) lack operation sheet to carryout maintenance and for use procedures.
Age of Grinding Machine Available in Food Milling Industries:
The age of use for grinding machine are presented in the Figure 4. It appears that the highest
age of use is 3 to 7 years followed by 5 to 7 years of age.
74.9
1.1 1 13.2 1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
without
brand
manto Ets Hanais
Lux
Yankis Diamant
percentage (%)
machine's brand
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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 13, Issue 1, February- 2025
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Machines used for food transformation are sensitives. It is then very important to provide new
machine for operations. Controls and regulations should verify the real behavior of the
machine. From our survey and obervations, we might think that milling machines from second
hand might have attained their lifespan. The consequence could be the ferrous contamination
of food (Ankar-Brewoo et al., 2020).
Miller’s Category of Dschang:
In order to access the technical capacity of industries in Dschang, a Categorization of food
milling industries as a function of milling machines number is presented in the Figure 6.
Figure 6: Category of food milling industries in Dschang city
It appears that 9 categories of industries are available in Dschang town based on the number of
machines owned for grinding services. The category 1, with one hammer machine and flattener
machine, has the highest percentage of appearance (42.5%). This could be explained by the low
financial ability of industries to acquire more machines. At the contrary, the category 8 and 9
with the lowest percentage (2.3%), possess 4 and 5 machines respectively. Based on the
grinding service, the categories 4 and 6 are the most efficient based on the energy consumption
and economical aspects. Although the food processing costs with hammer machines are twice
greater compared to those with flattener machines at the same weight, the second one is daily
more used due the type of foods made in the city.
Energy Consumption:
Electricity Bill Consumption:
Electricity bill consumption was assessed during the investigation. From Figure 7, it appears
the highest bill cost range from 1000 to 70 000 frcs.
43%
15%
8%
16%
6%
3% 5%
2% 2%
Category1: 1 hammer
mill; 1 flattener
Category 2: 2 hammers
mill; 1 flattener
Category 3: 1 hammer
mill; 2 flatteners
Category 4: 2 hammers
mill; 2 flatteners
Category 5: 3 hammers
mill; 1 flattener
Category 6: 3 hammers
mill; 2 flatteners
Category 7: 3 hammer
mills
Category 8: 4 hammer
mills
Category 9: 5 hammer
mills
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Tchoumboue, N. (2025). Small Scales Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon: Socio-Economic and Technical Characteristics Assessment.
Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 13(1). 01-16.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/dafs.131.17721
Figure 7: Electricity bill consumption
In terms of percentage of appearance, 20% and 10% of millers provide exactly 2000 frcs, 5000
frcs and 7.900 frcs. The other 10% of millers respectively pay in between 1000-2500 frcs, 2000-
3000 frcs, and 20000-70000frcs. A positive correlation was observed between machine types
and electricity bill. Indeed, most hammer machines are supplied with high powerful three- phase motors due to the operating mechanism requiring a high torque to easily perform the
task. Naturally, more number of machines is available, more energy consumption is increasing.
This might explain the highest cost observed.
Fuel Consumption:
During our survey, the fuel analysis was also carried out and it is presented on Figure 8.
Figure 8: Fuel consumption cost per month
From our observation during survey, petrol engine from low power (5.5 hp to 6 hp) was used
to assist flattener grinding machine when there was electricity shot down. The fuel
consumption cost vary from 5000 frs to 27000 frcs. In terms of percentage of appearance, the
10
20
10
20
10 10 10
0
5
10
15
20
25
Percentage of appearance (%)
Cost of energy consumption in franc CFA
20 20
40
20
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
5,000 10000 16.25 27000
Percentage of appearance
(%)
Cost of fuel consumption in franc CFA
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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 13, Issue 1, February- 2025
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highest percentage of appearance (40%) was observed for a consumption fuel of 16.250 frcs a
month. In order way, the percentage of appearance (20%) appears for 5000 frcs, 10000 frcs
and 27000 frcs respectively. The highest percentage of appearance link to 16.250 shows that
the electricity access is low or there is more periods of electricity shot down in Dschang as in
Africa in general. It is true that the cost of grinding is double when there is electricity shot down.
Major Faults, Repairs and Maintenance on Milling Machines
Major Faults:
In order to study the behavior of grinding machines during their usage, the Table 2 presents
the parts suggested to faults on grinding machines.
Table 2: faults observed on grinding machines as a percentage
Parts suggested to faults Percentage of appearance (%)
Hammer Flattener both
Grinding disc 0 11.9 0
Belt Cut 10 13 23
Pulley wear 0 5.3 0
Motor windings 20 20.1 40.1
Clamping screw point 0 7.6 0
Bearings 0 4.3 0
Sieves mesh 2.1 0 0
From our survey, The motor windings with the highest percentage (40.1%) is the main fault
which is common on both machines (hammer machine and flattener machine). Whatever the
type of faults, the flattener mill machines are the ones presenting all the faults. These
observations could be due to the facts that the flattener mill machines are designed for wetted
products as compared to hammer mill machines which are designed for dry products (.
Another observations is that most of the faults appear on rotative parts like the belt, clambing
ball, pulley and bearings. the sieves mesh (Figure 9) are the part that are only appearing on the
hammer mill machines and that have the least percentage of fault appearance (2.1%). On the
same way, faults on electrical motor coiling, that are common to both machines, could due to
the high voltage drops in Dschang city like in other places in cameroon (Onanena et al., 2021).
Failures on the flatteners would be mainly due to either depreciation or lack of maintenance.
In fact, these machines do not have any maintenance manual that could help the user to carry
out those tasks.
Figure 9: some parts of milling machines to be maintained (a: grinding disc; b: sieve mesh; c:
axle; d: clamping screw point
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Tchoumboue, N. (2025). Small Scales Food Milling Industries in Dschang-Cameroon: Socio-Economic and Technical Characteristics Assessment.
Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 13(1). 01-16.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/dafs.131.17721
Maintenance:
In this study, the maintenance analysis was also carried out based on the parts regularly
following the maintenance. The Figure 10 show the percentage of parts maintenance.
Figure 10: serviced parts and their percentage of appearance
From the figure above, the parts submitted to maintenance are mostly rotative parts. The timing
belt with 40% of percentage appearance, is the part in which maintenance is the highest
followed by the grinding disc and clamping screw with 38,4% and 9,2% of appearance
respectively. Most of the time the preventive maintenance is been carried out on those previous
parts due to the fact that they are accessible and visible so it becomes easy to carryout the
maintenance. On the otherhand, bearings, motor coil and sometimes axle are parts which need
some knowledge in maintenance technics (Farid et al., 2020). That is why for those specific
parts, the curative maintenance is the one carriedout. Generally, preventive maintenance are
carriedout by millers while technicians are the one doing the curative maintenance (Yeleliere,
et al., 2017); (Yar et al., 2023). From our observation due to the lack of maintenance sheets that
should be provided by the manufacturer, it is then difficult to prevent faults based on
maintenance procedures established by the litterature (Moerman, 2017). Most of the millers
are not doing maintenance in a proper way which can explain also faults repetivity.
Improvement Procedures in Food Milling Industries
The design of food milling procedures was done and it is presented on the Figure 11.
38.4 40
5.1 5.1 3.4 1.2
9.2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Percentage of appearance (%)
Serviced parts