The scare
Bush meat is animal protein obtained from animals hunted in our bushes: chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, antelopes, porcupines, rats, grass cutters, just to mention a few. Most bush meat lovers adore that of the grass cutter for many reasons:
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Its nutritional value and excellent taste. The grass cutter is nutritionally superior to some domestic meat because of its high protein-to-fat ratio and higher mineral contents. The meat quality is also leaner and non-cholestrogenic
Its medicinal value, especially in its preparation of fertility concoctions; the pancreas of the grass cutter contains a high concentration of insulin which is used in local preparation for the treatment of diabetes.
The fact that no part of the grass cutter is useless makes it a very popular bush meat. Even its fur is used as a spice. I don’t mean to whet your appetite. But fancy light soup made from its entrails - toilet and all - with plantain biased fufu on a warm afternoon. Whew! Finger licking, lip smacking!
Profits made in respect of grass cutter sales is what made Mrs. Andoh, a 48 year old domestic grass cutter breeder, enter into the business. After attending a three-week course organised by a Women Advocacy Group in Accra, she became fully equipped two years ago with the know-how. Presently, with her fifteen livestock meshed cages towering in tiers of threes and fours, she has as many as a hundred and twenty grass cutters to her credit. According to her, sales in a good month could sometimes rocket to Gh¢2,000. With the Ebola scare and its accompanying part-blame on bush meat, I took time out to visit this woman at her Oyarifa residence, to enquire as to what she intended to do with her bush meat whose price ranges had reduced by half.
Me: Good afternoon Madam. My name is Ablahshowbiz, from Graphic Showbiz. I want to first of all thank you for granting me permission to interview you.
Mrs. Andoh: (Grinning widely) The pleasure is all mine. Do I offer you water?
Me: Thanks m’am. I am ok for now. Perhaps, later.
Mrs. Andoh: Okay so what exactly do you want to know about my business?
Me: M’am, as we’ve all heard from various sources, bush meat, a category among which is the grass cutter, may carry the Ebola Virus. The implications for your business are obvious, but will need an elaboration in that regard. Would you like to dispose of your grass cutters?
Mrs. Andoh: Hmm, my dear, you have really touched on a sensitive nerve. Presently, sales have gone down and that is why I have reduced the prices of the animals. The past two weeks have been very terrible in terms of sales. I haven’t even sold a two hundred Ghana worth of animals. About 90 percent of the women who buy and smoke them before selling have all stopped coming to me. It is such a miserable fiscal time for me, in view of the fact that this is what I use to keep my family running. Times are really hard. My sister, it is not easy. (At that stage, I felt a lump rise in her throat).
Me: And how many make up two hundred Ghana presently?
Mrs. Andoh: Four large ones. Previously, I could sell those for a hundred and forty or fifty each. (She heaves a heavy sigh).
Me: So looking at all these animals in the face of the Ebola Virus, would you like to dispose of them?
Mrs. Andoh: Ablah, I want to ask a question.
Me: Please go ahead.
Mrs. Andoh: How do you define bush meat?
Me: Meat hunted from the wild … or the bush.
Mrs. Andoh: Good. (With a serious face) Would you then say, that these grass cutters which I have reared domestically, and not in the bush, is bush meat?
Me: (I smile sheepishly, not knowing whether to classify the “home-grown” species as bush meat or home meat).
Mrs. Andoh: See? I can see you are struggling with your answer. The carriers of the virus may be in the bush. I can confidently say that mine are free of the virus. At first they said it was bird flu. We stopped eating poultry for some time. Then they said, it was now swine flu. We stopped patronizing pork. Now they say it is Ebola. Well, that disease is serious. I have seen on Tele how people are dying – both medical and non medical persons alike. So if it means folding up my business for the purposes of a cleared conscience, I will. But I know my livestock do not have the Virus hiding in them.
Me: I feel so sorry about this unfortunate case which has made your business a bit basaaaa. But do you have intentions of disposing of the animals?
Mrs. Andoh: (with a tint of reluctance) Oooh, if a directive comes out that all grass cutter breeders or sellers should dispose of them, I will oblige and have all of them killed and frozen for consumption by my family and I. How can I dispose of all these innocent animals just like that? It will be a very difficult decision. But I want to pass one message through you to the authorities who seek to promote the welfare of women. Should the need arise for a ban to be imposed on our wares, they should come up with measures to support us to start new businesses of some sort. This is what takes care of our families. Otherwise some of us will go hungry and die, not of Ebola, but poverty.
Me: Thank you very much m’am. I will convey your message. Thank you for your time.
I left the interview venue heart-stricken. That this life-snatching virus should affect the livelihood of some persons so. Hm! May help come for all affected and yet to be affected bush meat vendors and breeders.
Hmm, on a lighter note, I hope you haven’t forgotten my call for support from you – for the 10th anniversary celebration of this column. We will visit some orphanages with the donations you give – rice, sugar, oil, bread, soft drinks, biscuits, clothes, shoes, cash, medication, mosquito coil, bed sheets, mattresses, etc. Any good thing you can give will be appreciated. Please send me your phone number through [email protected], and we will arrange to pick up whatever your donation is. Thank you.
