My host father, Anass, owns a cocoa farm, which is his main way of earning income. It's fairly big - I want to say 8 Acres, but I could be totally off on that....suffice to say it's huge. I went farming with him my second day in the village, and have been going with him almost every day that he's gone back - usually it's every week day, but it depends where things are in the cocoa producing schedule. That first day was a bit of a shock - I'm not sure what I expected a cocoa farm to look like....i knew there would be trees...yet somehow I was still surprised to find myself standing in what appeared to be a rain forest on the side of a mountain, teeming with insects, giant green and yellow cocoa pods hanging everywhere. That week was a harvesting week, so a picker was going around, cutting the pods from the tree using a large pole with a blade on the end of it. My host father then went around, using his machete to pick the pods off the ground and fling them into piles, with just a flick. He then has three women who he hires to come around and gather these smaller piles into bigger piles - three total. These women carry gigantic baskets of these cocoa pods on their head, down inclines, up inclines, through trees - they're amazing. It felt like hard work just following Anass around taking pictures and asking questions...granted, this is coming from a girl who's idea of physical labour is having her Fable character chop wood between quests, but I'm super impressed for the amount of work that goes into the harvesting process. This is all after a 35 minutes hike through the forest to the cocoa farm as well, so, keeping that all in mind. One thing that also struck me is that my host father, and host siblings when the come to help, all wear rubber boots, long pants and long sleeves to protect themselves from snakes (that can kill you) and from poisonous insects (which I don't think can kill you, but still suck). The women who work for him, however, wear shorts and either flip flops or bare feet. I'm not sure if this is by choice, or if it's because they can't afford them....my host father has told me that they are poor and they get 5 Ghana cedis a day for their work...which doesn't seem like a whole lot, especially considering one of the women has eleven children. A lot of the past couple of weeks has been like that; I'll notice things, and wonder, and sometimes ask indirect questions, but I'm still getting comfortable enough with my family and community to really ask about a lot of them. I'm intrigued, concerned, but also wary of making judgements or assumptions. And so the mystery of the footwear remains...
So that was Friday. We went back on Monday and Tuesday, doing the same kind of thing, but with my host sister Lydia helping as she was home from boarding school. On Tuesday my host father also gathered contombre leaves (leaves from the coco yams, which grow on the farm), and dug up some yams (which was an intense process) and Lydia made us yams and stew on a fire pit right there on the farm - and it was AMAZINGLY good. A lot of the food my family eats - yams, plantains, bananas, contombre - comes from the farm. I think it's really cool that the cash crop doesn't totally negate any form of subsistence farming (though they definitely also buy a lot of food). Anyway, by that point, I was able to help pile the pods (not with a machete, just with my hands) and also to help the women fill their baskets. Not a huge help I'm sure, but small steps. Maybe one day I'll be able to carry a basket of them on my head...maybe.
Once most of the membranes were removed, Anass covered the piles in Banana leaves so they could ferment for a few days. That meant the next couple of days were breaks from farming. Monday they started bringing the beans to the compound to dry them out for another few days - but on Monday I left for retreat, so that's all I've seen so far.
Anass is super proud of his cocoa farm - it's size, and it's productivity. He's part of a coop type association which provides him with inputs - fertilizer, fungicide and pesticide on credit. He's been telling me all about these inputs, and their effect on the farm; pointing out black pod disease, and showing me the insects that eat the cocoa...even telling me how to cut the canopy so that the sun can get through, and which plants to keep on the farm and which ones to get rid of. In some ways I feel like I'm training to start my own plantation back in Canada - but again, what gets me is his pride in the amount of work he's put into his farm (started in 1985) and what he's gotten out of it. He also acts as a buyer for this association, so all day long local cocoa farmers come to weight and sell their cocoa - for which they get a fixed price, decided by the government. Since November's a huge harvest month, the house is full of bags of cocoa, waiting to be taken to Tema, and then, as Anass says "to Canada, to be made into chocolate bars and milo". I haven't told him that we don't have milo in Canada....but you get the idea.
So that's my cocoa farming experience so far. My first impressions are - it's hard work. Really hard work. And Anass seems to be really serious about working hard and improving his farm, which I really admire. He's also told me that cocoa farming is a particularly lucrative business - because unlike some other crops, you can harvest at least some of it all year round. It certainly seems more profitable than working as a farm labourer...which is usually the case. Walking around my village I recognize that my family is one of the wealthiest families - based on the size of their house, their clothes, their TV, and the fact that all the kids go to school (the ones who are old enough).
So, that's what I've seen so far. I know that there's a lot more to know, learn, see and uncover - and I hope this blog doesn't give false impressions. I'm acutely aware that as I take notes and pictures, and as I e-mail and blog, that I'm interpreting everything through my own perceptions and assumptions - through my western gaze. I'm doing my best to share my experience with you all - yet I feel mildly uncomfortable about it - like I'm not able to do my family justice; nor my village; nor Ghana. Because how could I? So, this is just a disclaimer - I'm aware that these blogs are foll of bias, assumptions, filters and misinterpretations and it's important to keep that in mind. But there it is.
Tomorrow I'll put up pictures - I have a lot of the cocoa farm! Also, stay tuned for more on "the gaze" and to hear about my experience attending a Ghanaian wedding! (In Birkenstocks no less).
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