Save our business! - Women palm kernel oil producers cry
For decades, many of the women at Ada Magazine near Koforidua in the Eastern Region have earned their living producing and selling palm kernel oil.
For most of them, the palm kernel oil business is all they know.
Advertisement
They toil from dawn to dusk preparing palm kernel oil in harsh conditions.
In recent times however, they claim that the challenges in the business had increased and been made worse by people who buy their products on credit but refuse to pay on time.
As a result, these women live on loans and on the benevolence of family and friends despite their hard work.
Making palm kernel oil
The palm kernel oil business is a laborious one indeed.
The women said they sometimes combed the whole region to gather the commodity.
“Sometimes, I go to Nsawam, Kyebi and in fact, any community where I am likely to get the palm kernel in large quantities. It is tiring and expensive.
But that’s not all, after getting the needed quantity, I have to now ensure that they are mostly in good condition after which I crush them at this place (pointing to a wooden structure which has the crushing machine)”, Madam Asibi Atim told the Daily Graphic.
She explained further that the real work began after the crushing.
“There is another machine on the site which separates the husk from the kernel after it has been crushed”.
After this, we blend the fruits and boil until we are able to scoop enough oil from it, she stated.
“The boiling process is very tedious. You have to endure both heat and smoke. After so many years, we are used to the heat and smoke but we know it will impact on our health somehow,” she stated.
Creditors
Joana Abana has been in the business for nine years.
Like many others, the business was handed down to her by her mother.
Seated near one of the pots boiling with palm kernel oil on fire, a very tired and heavily pregnant Ms Abana laments that a chunk of her capital was locked up with creditors.
This was corroborated by Ms Leticia Danso who said, “sometimes, they keep our money for months, and once we are financially down, we are forced to borrow money with interest and this is negatively affecting the growth of our business and our survival”.
Pointing to a number of gallons packed in the yard, Ms Danso said “ after all the hustle, we don’t also get buyers. The few that come always want to buy on credit.
Meanwhile, we go to different towns and villages all over the Eastern Region with cash to buy the palm kernel but after going through the difficulties in preparing the oil, people come and want to buy on credit.
“Because the market is not there, we are forced to sell on credit basis”, she stated.
Aside that, she observed that the oil in the palm kernel had reduced in recent times and attributed it to the use of fertiliser in oil palm farming.
“In the past, if you buy 10 bags of palm kernel, you will get approximately 10 gallons of the palm kernel oil but now we get only about seven gallons and this is badly affecting the business.
“The marketing too has become difficult so we are forced to reduce the gallon from our realistic price of GH¢100 to GH¢80,00,” she said.
Land
The women said one of their biggest challenges now was land since they risked losing their present location to developers.
According to them, a number of people had claimed ownership, and verbally asked them to move out but they were hopeful that they would be protected from such developers since they had nowhere to relocate to.
Madam Asibi Atim described the situation as unfair and explained that their present location was a wetland when they were relocated from the Agatha Market about 15 years ago to occupy it.
She said they worked together to reclaim the land and because it was solid now, some developers were scheming to take it away from them.
“Some of us are widows and our livelihood depends heavily on the proceeds from this work. This is what gives us money to take care of our children,” she stated.
Madam Atim appealed to the government to consider the palm kernel oil business under the one district one factory policy to enable the about 500 of them get ready market for their product.
That, she said, would go a long way to improve on their livelihoods.
Currently, the women do not have a vibrant association which advocates for them.
Uses of palm kernel oil
Palm kernel oil has many uses in cooking, soap making and as an additive to other beauty products.
Research has established that besides its anti-aging benefits, it also makes the skin naturally soft and glossy without it getting a greasy appearance.
Aside the above mentioned benefits, palm kernel oil is said to have no cholesterol so it is recommended for cooking.
