Coconut: The status changer in Agbozume
It was the fragrance of the traditional “Ayigbe biscuit” that drew my attention to Vida’s Bakery at Dawukope, near Agbozume, in the Ketu South District in the Volta Region.
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The sight of the production process of the biscuit, which is made from grated copra and starch, keeps one’s gaze glued.
Coconut, scientifically known as ‘cocos nucifera’, is a big source of income for women in Agbozume.
Ami Soglo, one of the workers at the bakery, uses the dehydrated grated flesh of the coconut as a substitute for flour in the production of the biscuit.
The use of coconut in the area is not limited to the production of ‘Ayigbe biscuits’, as other businessmen and women in the area engage in the production of virgin coconut oil called Nemi in Ewe and Kube anwa in Twi.
In spite of their ingenuity, a good number of coconut farmers in the area live below the poverty line.
One of the major reasons is that they produce and sell a single commercial product, the fresh coconut or copra, at low prices.
Widely acclaimed as the tree of life or tree of heaven, coconut provides food security and livelihood opportunities to millions of people in Ghana.
The liquid it contains is undiluted, unpolluted and is a natural drink that contains no fat, cholesterol and no artificial sugar.
It is rich in sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus.
It also possesses therapeutic properties with vitamins, minerals and protein.
Coconut is used as a food crop, oil seed fibre crop, medicinal and beverage crop.
The leaves are also used for roofing and fencing, and the shell for industrial products and craft items.
One coconut tree gives the opportunity to produce not only fresh coconuts but also some value-added products.
Impact on Agbozume women
Verifiable indications are that coconut marketing appears to have raised the economic status of women in Agbozume to the level where they are deemed to be at par with their male counterparts.
The women in this part of the Volta Region no longer see themselves as wives but rather as partners and are accepted as such by their men.
The Managing Director of Vida’s Bakery, Mrs Vida Amegatse, said she was just a little girl when she learnt how to make ‘Ayigbe biscuit' and continued with the trade till she got married.
According to her, her husband observed that she had an inherent interest in making the product so he acquired an oven for her to facilitate her work.
Currently, Daavi Vida says she produces 3,000,000 packets of the biscuits in a day and supplies them to Accra, Tema, Koforidua and neighbouring countries such as Togo and Benin.
She identified lack of capital, high cost of sugar and the lack of modern technology as a major challenge militating against the expansion of the business.
The coconut economy
Speaking on the economic use of coconut, Mr Graham Smith, a development consultant, who has personally invested in coconut production and processing in the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) region for 15 years, said coconut plantations for copra only were now uneconomical and should be turned into making value-added products such as organic virgin oil, coconut oil based soaps, body care products, crude coconut oil for electricity generation, cooking oil, bio-diesel for vehicles, coconut creams, coconut sugar and flour.
He said there was a renewed interest in the product as a bio-fuel to ensure environmental sustainability but that required the use of modern technology.
Medical experts say coconut is instrumental in the management of asthma, baldness, bruises, burns, colds, constipation, cough, dropsy, dysentery, fever, flu, gonorrhoea, menstrual pains, kidney stones, malnutrition, nausea, rash, skin infections, sore throat, stomach, typhoid, ulcers and tuberculosis, among others.
Cultivation in Ghana
Tracing the origin and spread of coconut production in Ghana, Togbui Kwablavi Negbegble, an 85-year-old coconut farmer in Denu in the Volta Region, said coconut was first introduced in the Keta area by the early missionaries after the palm was brought to West Africa by the Portuguese over some 500 years ago.
He says prior to that, only a small area was devoted to coconuts in the region as the commercial value of the crop had not been appreciated by the people.
According to him, in 1909, areas from Atiteti to Denu undertook extensive planting of coconut.
Agbozume and Afiadenyigba also benefitted from that move.
According to him, by 1933, about 9,500 acres had been brought under coconut cultivation along the coast from Aflao to Ada, with the yield of over 6,000 tonnes of copra per annum.
“Between 1933 and 1934, the government launched a campaign to lure prospective coconut farmers to the Western Region and about 10-11,000 acres was acquired between Axim and Half Assini for the development of the copra industry,” he recounted.
Togbui Negbegble, who had most of his coconut trees destroyed in the 60s by the Cape St Paul Wilt disease (CSPWD), said the coconut trees had a very long life and one tree could outlive humans and also produce fruits for more than 100 years.
“This is the time to replant and nurture this industry. If we are not careful, future generations will suffer," he cautioned.
Presently, coconut is being cultivated in four regions in Ghana, notably the Volta, Western, Central and the Greater Accra, with an annual production of 224 million nuts from an area of 36,000 hectares.
Eighty per cent of coconut holdings in Ghana are owned by small and marginal farmers.
Constraints in the coconut sector
Cape Saint Paul Wilt Disease (CSPWD), according to Mr Gilbert Danyo of the Coconut Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), remains a serious enemy of the coconut.
He said the disease had no cure but limited prevention was achieved through breeding of disease resistance coconut, and by the adoption of farm hygiene.
