Basket weaving: A vibrant industry in U/E Region
Basket weaving in the Upper East Region is undoubtedly a vibrant industry. Both the young and the old in the region attest to the fact that it was handed down to them by their forebears.
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It is, therefore, not surprising that residents of the region rely so much on this industry to meet almost all their needs.
History has it that basket weaving began in Bolgatanga many years ago with shepherds making hats for themselves out of a local grass known as ‘Vetivar’.
Baskets were used to sieve malt for “pito”, a local drink, and also for winnowing. After the Second World War, markets began to open up in the region and baskets, in the form of the traditional round baskets with natural and coloured weaves made from local dyes, began to appear.
The basket market became more popular during the 1960s when Ghanaians from all over the country bought the round baskets as gifts at Christmas and on other occasions.
Baskets are now designed for a number of uses. The baskets are handcrafted, lightweight and attractive. You can use them for shopping, picnics or to store favourite items safely.
Market days
On market days in Bolgatanga, which occur every three days,a good number of traders converge on a popular shop known as the Paku Enterprise, located on the commercial street of the municipality, very early in the morning to purchase assorted baskets.
Some of the traders bring along bicycles on which they carry a quantity of assorted baskets while others use motor-tricycles to transport the items which they purchase at wholesale prices from the shop.
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Mr David Akurugu, who is the Manager of the Paku Enterprise, told the Daily Graphic that he inherited the business from his father, who was producing leather bags and foot rests in the 1960s. "At that time, the expatriates patronised the products a lot," he noted.
The Paku Enterprise usually buys the assorted baskets from women who are brought together by the shop to produce them at designated craft centres in the municipality.
Every market day, the enterprise buys not less than 600 assorted baskets from these weavers. Records show that the shop spends between 16,000 and 25,000 Ghana cedis every market day to purchase the items from the weavers, thereby enhancing the income levels of basket weavers.
Types
All baskets have names and functions and they come in different shapes and sizes. There are V-shaped baskets,the U-shopper,laundry baskets,rectangular-shaped baskets, and bread and fruit baskets. There are also fans.
Some people order a particular basket for occasions such as birthdays, naming ceremonies and Valentine's Day celebrations while others place orders for cots.
Benefits
The industry has created a lot of employment opportunies for the youth, thereby reducing the menace of kayayei in the region. It has also helped in the generation of foreign currency as most expatriates patronise the products.
At Nyariga, a basket-weaving community in the Bolgatanga Municipality, for instance, the Blessings Basket Project (BBP) a non-governmental organisation (NGO), from 2004 to 2014, purchased 149,326 baskets from the weavers at a total cost of $1,045,282. That amount has ultimately helped to improve on the living conditions of the residents there.
Undoubtedly, most communities in the Upper East Region rely on basket weaving to push their development agenda. At Zaare, also in the municipality ,the leader of the Amisuure Basket Weavers Group, Madam Evelyn Baaba, stated that through basket weaving, she and her colleagues were able to convince the Catholic Relief Services and their partners to provide a borehole valued at US$7,000 for the area.
According to Madam Baaba, the weavers were producing baskets in large quantities but the issue of lack of potable water was affecting productivity.
Challenges
Key players in the industry say they usually face stiff competition from inferior goods from China and to distinguish theirs from those ones, they always labelled theirs before exporting them to other countries.
Other challenges include the irregular supply of baskets to meet demands, lack of electricity at some of the weaving centres that provents weaving at night, inadequate straw during lean seasons, insufficient utensils for dyeing colours and lack of capacity-building workshops to enhance product diversification.
Another challenge is that due to environmental degradation, as a result of human activities such as bush burning, the sources of the raw materials for production have been depleted. Producers, therefore, have to travel to Kumasi or further down south to purchase raw materials such as the straw, which eventually increases the production cost.
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