Shea nut picking has being the predominant occupation of many women in the northern part of the Ghana. Shea nut picking is usually done during the rainy season amidst farming. Though bad pricing of the product has been a disincentive to the pickers couple with the lack of storage facilities compels them to always sell the nuts according to the dictates of buyers of the product.
The excommunicated method of picking this fruits or nuts by usage of bare hands and thus exposing the women to all sort of risks like snake bites and scorpions stings for the past years has been a source of worry to women centered organizations like SAVE-GHANA and thus intensified their call for an innovative way of picking the nuts or fruits. Finally there is a break through though not in the country,but in far away Indonesia, but with input from SAVE-GHANA,A roller that allows women to pick more nuts at a time than usual
This rollers could with little time and energy harvest about four bowls of the Shea nuts or fruits and then emptied into a bigger container. The roller machines cost one hundred and sixty two Ghana cedies.
But looking at the financial instability of our vulnerable women, SAVE-GHANA has imported two hundred pieces of these machines and would be giving them to women groups that would allow them pay in bits. The payment would be spread across sixteen weeks period ,meaning eleven Ghana cedies every week. This arrangements makes it flexible for them to pay for the roller machines.
Hitherto the introduction of this rollers for picking Shea nuts, little could be picked with bare hands (half a bowl) and also,our women used to use their bare hands and thus susceptible to the mercy of snake bites and scorpions stings. Many women who fell victim to this avoidable situations have lost their lives and others living with life threatening deformities.
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