Tobacco began to be grown as a cash crop in the Banda area in the early 1980s. Here young people tie leaves to the branches from which the tobacco will be suspended while hanging in the drying barn. Visible in the background are two drying barns built of cement block and roofed with iron sheets. Tobacco companies advanced farmers the materials to build these barns against the farmer's crop. Between the drying barns is a stack of wood brought in by tractor to fuel fires in the barns. In the background of one photo, men carry headpans filled with tobacco which they have brought from farm. Two photos. South side of Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Drying barns; Children's work; Wood piles; Headpans; Men's work
Subjects Facet:
Lifting and carrying; Firewood; Tobacco; Metal roofing; Agriculture; Building; Cash crops
By 1994, many Banda farmers had gone into tobacco farming. Money was advanced to farmers by tobacco companies to purchase the cement and iron sheets needed to build drying barns. The buyers also advanced commercial fertilizer needed to grow the cash crop. A tractor supplied by the company was used to prepare fields for the seedlings and to transport firewood from surrounding areas to the barns. Large amounts of wood were used to stoke fires in the drying barns. South side of Ahenkro, June-July, 1994.
Tobacco was grown as a cash crop in the Banda area during the 1980s and 1990s. Pictured here are wood piles and tobacco barns on the south side of Ahenkro. The wood was collected and brought to town using a tractor. The high demand for wood by tobacco farmers to fuel the drying barns created tensions with women who relied on wood collected from farms to fuel their cooking fires. Ahenkro, June-July, 1990.
Drying barns on the south side of Banda-Ahenkro used to dry and cure tobacco. Wood used to fuel the fires in the barns is stacked in piles between the barns and was brought in from surrounding farmland by tractor. The high demand for wood by tobacco farmers created tensions with women who relied on wood collected from farms to fuel their cooking fires. Ahenkro, June-July, 1990.
Yaa Yable Wo carries firewood on her return from farm. Until recent years, meals were most often prepared over hearths fueled by firewood. Women and children collected downed tree limbs and other dry wood from farmlands surrounding the villages. Wood was headloaded back home and stacked on platforms raised above the ground to be stored until needed. Cooking over charcoal in fabricated metal coalpots became more common in the late 20th-early 21st century as charcoal burners moved into the Banda area and charcoal production increased. Recently, gas cookers have begun to be used by people able to afford industrial cookers and the bottled gas need to fuel them. Ahenkro, December, 1982.
Women in the central courtyard of a house compound in Ahenkro prepare the evening meal. A woman seated in the foreground readies dishes while women in the background cook over clustered hearths. A number of low stools are placed amidst a variety of metal, plastic and fired clay containers including buckets and pots. Calabash bowls (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra) are among the containers being used. A repurposed metal drum (center, back) holds water for household purposes. A raised platform is stacked with firewood brought by the women from farm and stored until needed. Thatch- and metal-roofed rooms surround the courtyard. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Metal pots; Plastic containers; Water barrels; Women's work
Magdalene Attah uses a small wooden mortar and pestle to process cassava flour while two goats forage in the background. The large wood pile to the rear (left) is associated with the tobacco drying barns that line the south edge of Ahenkro. Ahenkro, May, 1995.
Two young boys tend to a pretend tobacco drying barn that they have built on the south side of Ahenkro, near to where tobacco is being processed. A functional drying barn is visible in the background (center) alongside large piles of wood that will be used to fuel it. Two photos. Ahenkro, 1995.
An adolescent girl (Mamee) uses a wooden paddle to stir T.Z. cooking in an aluminum pot over a wood fire. T.Z. is short for "tuo zafi," which means hot porridge in Hausa. The pot sits on a hearth made of three laterite stones. Surrounding the hearth are aluminum and plastic pots and bowls used in preparation. A proper stirring technique is needed to achieve the springy texture of this starchy staple, which is served with a soup. Aluminum sheets in the background enclose a bathing area, behind which a raised platform holding firewood can be seen. Ahenkro, 28 October, 2009.