KOLA NUT PRODUCTION IN GHANA (GOLD COAST AND ASANTE) 1865-1920. EDMUND ABAKA A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of Yoxk University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Graduate Programme in History York University North York, Ontario, Canada May, 1998. 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This work is dedicated to the memory of my younger brother, the late Emmanuel Abakah, who died in December 1997. AB STRACT This study documents the Ghanaian experience in the economic development of kola nuts as a major cash crop from the mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. It examines the production, marketing, and organisation of the kola nut trade in Ghana (Gold Coast and Asante) between 1865 and 1920, and argues that kola nut production in Ghana increased to feed both the interior markets of Africa, as well as markets in Latin America, Europe and North America. Between 1865 and 1874, the northern axis of the Asante kola trade witnessed remarkable growth. Kola exported to Northern Nigeria, Borno, and other parts of the Central Sudan and beyond, came mainly fxom Asante, Brong Ahafo, and to a lesser extent Akyem. These areas constituted the kola heartland of Ghana in the 19'" century. New areas were brought under kola cultivation, especially after the 1860s, to satisfy the growing consumerism and the expanding market. This was facilitated by the renewed interest of farmers in kola cultivation. In addition, the penetration of Hausa, Mossi and Yoruba traders into Southern Ghana after the defeat of Asante in 1874, improvements in communication - by road, rail and sea - and later, colonial government policies, provided a further v impetus to kola cultivation. The penetration of Hausa traders into the Salaga- Voltaic basin in the 1880s led to the growth and development of new commercial centres such as Adawso, Atebubu, Kete Krachi and many others. Hausa traders also settled in the coastal cities of Saltpond, Winneba, Sekondi, Shama and traded in kola. The activities of these traders led to a re- orientation of the kola trade southwards by sea to Lagos. Traders took advantage of the introduction of steam vessels and mail boats for trade and communication along the West African coast. One of the major problems which bedevilled the kola industry was labour supply. Kola farmers and traders utilised different types of labour in clearing farms, harvesting kola and preparing the kola for the market. Family labour was extensively utilised, and when it proved insufficient, slave labour became an important supplement, especially in the period before, and imrnediately after 1874. After emancipation (1874), pawns became increasingly important as a source of labour. In the colonial period, wage and migrant labour constituted important sources of labour. From 1920, however, kola was overshadowed by cocoa as vi an international crop. Kola farmers, therefore, transferred resources £rom kola to cocoa. This attitude killed the kola 'revolution,' and kola failed to take off as an overseas export comrnodity. The study, therefore, adds to the historiography of the Gold Coast and Ghana by examining the role of the Hausa in particular, and the Sokoto Caliphate in general in Asante economic and social history. In addition, it shows that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Atlantic basin was linked together throughthe kola trade. Furthermore, the study also enhances Our understanding of kola as a psychoactive substance and, hence, the importance of kola as a medicinal agent. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A project of this magnitude is always the cumulation of long hours of painstaking work, guidance, and support. The list of people who have contributed to this work is therefore a very long one. It will not be possible to include everybody' s name. First and foremost, the study benefited from institutional support provided by the History Department and the Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University, which enabled me to spend six months in Ghana doing fieldwork. 1 would also like to thank most sincerely my supervisors, Paul E . Love j oy, Sydney Kanya-Forstner and David Paul Lumsden. Under Lovejoy's guidance the study was given direction, focus and grounding. His painstaking reading of the drafts helped refine and direct the study. In addition, his expertise in the Sokoto Caliphate informed the Hausa role in the study and kindled my interest in the Hausa diaspora in Ghana. My association with him has ushered me into the international academic community and thrust me squarely into a new mods of research and scholarship - international collaborative research. 1 also gratefully acknowledge the use of Lovejoyfs fieldwork notes viii and archiva1 collection at York University. Sydney Kanya- Forstner's painstaking reading of some of the earlier drafts helped refine and direct the study. My sincere thanks also goes to David Paul Lumsden, who not only read some of the rough drafts, but also directed me to the relevance of kola as a psychoactive substance in the current discourse on drug use and drug abuse in North America. 1 owe a debt of gratitude to the former director of the graduate history program, Professor John Saywell, and the Graduate Program administrative assistant, Diane Jenner. The Faculty of Graduate Studies also deserves mention for offering me tuition fee waivers and bursaries at the time when 1 was an International Student. I would like to thank my colleagues in the graduate history programme, Dr. Philip Afeadie, Dr. Ibrahim Jumare, Dr. Kwabena Opare and Dr. Femi Kolapo, who read parts of the work. 1 wish to express my appreciation to the staff of the Inter-Library Loan Section of the Scott Library for their help in accessing material £rom other Universities in the United States, Europe and Africa. 1 am also grateful to the staff of the State Oil Palm Plantations at Akwanserem (especially Mr. Nketia Dwomoh) and Dwaben, and the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), Kade, especially Dr. Abdul Karim, Dr. Frank Amuah, Mr. Samuel Lowor (Asst. Research Officer), Messrs. Enin Agyei, Forster Arnoah and Owusu Gyekye. 1 extend my gratitude to the staff of the Institute of African Studies and Balme Libraries (University of Ghana), the National Archives of Ghana - Accra, Kumasi (Rose Donkor, Georgina Insarku) , Tamale, Cape Coast (Mx. Kojo Arnoasi), and Sekondi-Takoradi (Benjamin Kwof fie, Rosina Yeboah etc. ) . The Kola sellers at Tamale, Nkawkaw, Obuasi, Accra and Bekwai, and al1 my informants also deserve mention for taking time off to chat with me about kola production and trade. A special word of thanks goes to the Sarkin Zongo, Nkawkaw, Mr Ashsong, (affiliated with the Kumasi Cultural Centre), Madam Zaratu, Rakyia, Kotumi and Baby Amina of Obuasi, Mr Richard Enin of Jacobu, Dr. Emmanuel Yiridoe and Dr. Daniel Bagah, then graduate students of the University of Guelph and York University respectively. 1 also received invaluable support £rom Mr. Ahmadu, the assistant archivist at the Ghana National Archives, Tamale, who not only arranged al1 the interviews with the members of the Tamale Kola sellers Associationrlbut also assisted in '~heinterviews were conducted at the Tamale Central interviews and provided concurrent translations in English, Hausa and Dagaaba. He enabled me to gain access to the Tamale Central market and the Tamale Kola Sellers Association. His participation in the project put people at ease and enabled them to talk to me. In the same vein, 1 also acknowledge the help of Mr. Peter Arthur, Senior House Master of Opoku Ware Secondary School, Kumasi, who arranged the interviews with the Kotokoli women of Obuasi. My research assistants, George Abakah, Alberta Acquah, Mohammed Nkrumah, Peter Arthur, deserve special mention. George accompanied me on al1 my trips and did invaluable work even after the field trip. Finally, the forbearance of my family - Florence, Victoria, Sophia, Thomas, Esther, Jane, Matilda, Lily and Peter - in waiting patiently for eight years while 1 completed my graduate work in Canada is commendable. Market by Mr. Ahmadu, myself, and my research assistant George Abakah of the Higher National Diploma Department, Cape Coast Polytechnic.