Serendipalm Case Studies
Daniel Nyano
Daniel Nyano is 34 years old farmer who sees palm as his future. He also grows pueraria phasioloides for ground cover to keep down weeds and hold in nitrogen on his land.
“ I grow my palm using more modern methods, because of the training I have had.’ ‘Spacing of the trees is important – it increases yield to space the plants 29 feet apart – older farmers plant much closer together.”
“I enjoy growing my palm, because of Serendipalm, there is a better market for it and I have a better life and I am more motivated to do well. It is my father’s farm, and I still give part of my profits to my dad. But one day I want a family of my own and the palm will make that possible.”
Amea
Amae Foriwaa is a palm harvester who also works with cocoa (which often grows alongside palm). For herself and her young family, she grows maize and plantain.
“It is difficult for women in Ghana. Work is not easy to come by. There are not many women in elected positions. More representatives might do more for women. I am lucky to have this palm work.”
Adu Collins
Adu Collins harvests palm for many farmers around Assoum.
“I have been doing this work for ten years. I am a Christian woman of 53 years, a widow with no children, no husband so this is how I live my life. I enjoy my work but it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t because there is not much other work.”
Her favourite bible verse is
Psalm 37:7
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.
Josie Abnu
Josie Abnu has an important and social role at Serendipalm. Once the palm bundles are delivered into Serendipalm, she and her fellow workers, all women, sit in a circle and detach the soft palm fruits from their spiky bundles.
“We always try to make sure that we get our fair share of the riper, softer palm which is easier to separate from the spines.’
So, what do you talk about as you work together?
“We talk about our children and our families. We talk about the food we are going to grow, and the food we will cook. And we talk about our husbands….. we talk a lot about our husbands …”
Felicia
We’ve mentioned some of the community development projects linked to Serendipalm, and this is a real example of these.
This water project in a nearby village of Daniema, where palm growers and farmers and their families live. This village along with another was chosen to receive a borehole using Organic premium funding on the basis of need – previously, they’d had to walk almost 2km for water.
The borehole project was voted on and approved by the funding committee, and land was provided to serve the majority of people in the neighbourhood.
Felicia is glad that there is clean water in the village for her baby boy, Daniel.
“Now, water is available twice a day and there is a cost per container, but it is ten times less than other boreholes in other places. There is less sickness with children now. The next thing we are wanting is better toilets for the community.”
Sofia and Josephine (The Midwives)
Although many of the women we spoke to talked of the decisions on the premium being made by men and not always in the interests of women, one of the decisions they made was to build a small flat near the health clinic so that a midwife could live on site.
Before, women didn’t trust healthcarers who didn’t live among them, and often wouldn’t make ante-natal visits. This meant that women who were likely to suffer complications in pregnancy didn’t get picked up early. Those who went into labour at night faced a grim choice. Deliver their babies without help, or travel over rutted, potholed, dirt track roads in the dark. Women and babies died as a result.
Once the midwife accommodation was built, Sofia and Josephine moved in to the centre. Once this happened, ante-natal appointments increased by 240 patients in one month. At the time of our visit, there had been no maternal or child deaths for a year.
During ‘quiet times’, the women help other women at the palm oil plant with hand care. Palm is spiky and injuries are common – if they can be dealt with before infection sets in, women don’t lose work.
Sofia says:
“As well as looking after the women, everyone here gets malaria twice a year, so we can help then, and we also deliver health and safety training and collect information on malaria for the government.”
They hope that the premium from fair trade will buy them another maternity bed.