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Ivory Coast women defy cocoa farming taboos

By Christophe KOFFI
AP, BOKO, IVORY COAST
Sunday, Nov 09, 2008, Page 12

Henriette Gneza, owner of a cocoa plantation, shows a cocoa pod near Boko, Ivory Coast, on Oct. 18. PHOTO: AFP

Once it was the exclusive preserve of men but not any more: hundreds of women in Ivory Coast are ignoring patriarchal tradition and turning to the growing of cocoa.

Agathe Vanie, who founded an association of women growers in her village of Boko, said the reason was simple: “the misery of women in the face of the financial wealth of the men who own cocoa plantations.”

The association at Boko, which lies about 200km west of the capital Abidjan in the southern forest district of Divo, has grown to about 1,000 members since it was founded in 2005. It is the first — and thought to be the only one — of its kind in this west African country, finances its own costs and receives no state subsidies.

“Women cannot inherit or even create a cocoa plantation under our patriarch-dominated tradition,” said Vanie, criticizing what she called a “backwards and misogynist” practice.

“We decided, whatever it took, to … allow them to have plots of land,” said Vanie, whose country is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocoa, accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s cocoa production.

Women farmers carry wood as they leave a cocoa plantation near the village of Boko, 200km north of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Oct. 18. A group of women created an association of coffee-cocoa producers in 2005. Cocoa farming in Ivory Coast, traditionally undertaken by men, has recently become an activity for some women who do not hesitate to defy traditions to engage in this activity with the hope of a better life. PHOTO: AFP

“I meet village chiefs and I explain to them that women can make a contribution to expenses that are increasingly heavy because of the cost of living and the price of food,” she said. “To begin with the reply was brutal and final: ‘No! A woman does not have the right to own a plantation and later give us orders.’”

But Clementine Galo, in her 70s, managed to become a woman cocoa planter and is happy today to have been one of those who took up the challenge.

“I was abandoned by my husband and I have only the plantation to meet my needs and prepare for my final days,” she said, standing by her trees, spread over two hectares, with their yellow pods of ripe beans.

Nearby, her friend Henriette Gneza proudly showed off her 20 hectares.

Last year she harvested 10 tonnes of beans and with the income paid school fees for her two children.

She could do even better this year, with prices of beans expected to rise.

The association also seeks to organize women into cooperatives to win new recruits to look after aging plantations.

But it has been an uphill battle in a country of 20 million where despite women’s increasingly active role in society, men still tend to make the decisions, head families and settle arguments.

“This activity gives them financial independence and lets them fight poverty in rural areas,” said Antoine Anon Dokou, a member of the association.

A report from the United Nations Development Program found that the poverty level in Ivory Coast reached 43 percent of the population last year, three or four points up on the figure in 2002 when civil strife split the country.

Women in the countryside are often the hardest-hit.

Vanie’s association wants to see her initiative copied and would like to launch a federation of women coffee and cocoa producers.

“Women have overcome their fear of men and difficulties in getting credit,” association treasurer Veronique Gopo said. “We are going out to win over our sisters in other regions.”

“We talk about ... the emancipation of women,” said Boko village chief Pierre Gbaza Zohouri, who backs the project. “In town you share household costs. Why not in the village?”

“They have my blessing,” he added with a hint of resignation.
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