Women in Bukunor making a living through extraction of palm kernel oil

Correspondence from Eastern Region

At Bukunor, a farming community in the Yilo Krobo Municipal of the Eastern Region, 28-Year-old Patricia Padi, a mother of five and pregnant with her sixth child, is one of three women in the community eking out a meagre living through the traditional palm kernel oil extraction method.

Padi Patricia processes palm kernel oil which she supplies as a wholesaler to customers in various parts of neighbouring Upper Manya Krobo District such as Akateng and Asesewa, who in turn sell it as retailers to other consumers.

The labour-intensive activity is characterized by low capital outlay, irregular supply of inputs, and long working hours. However, the women earn very little due to poor marketing strategies, lack of linkages with the modern economy, and lack of support.

Though these factors make women vulnerable to external environmental shocks, the work provides them with some personal income, which is important for their self-esteem.

These women are at the margins of survival and represent one of the faces of poverty in the country, yet do not appear in any national accounting system.

GhanaWeb caught up with Patricia at her house where she has been undertaking her business on her compound for the past six years.

Her two-and-a-half-year-old son lay on some clothing spread under a tree on the compound as his mother undertook the torturous activity to put food on the table.

“This is the only job I do for a living, there is none other,” she answered when asked if this was only a part-time job.

According to Patricia who undertakes the tedious process alone, she buys her palm nuts, the main ingredient for the processing from neighbouring communities including Aketebuor and others.

Aside from this, she gathers enough firewood for the process.

Having undertaken this process for the past six years, she easily described the extraction process to GhanaWeb.



After purchasing a large quantity of the nuts at Ghc3.00 per tin, Patricia employs the services of a palm kernel nut cracking machine operator to remove the shells from the nuts.

The next stage is to wash the nuts with special clay-like sand and then rinse it before sending them to the mill to be milled into a paste.

The paste is then mixed with a small quantity of water and heated in large caldrons to release the palm kernel oil which settles on top of the boiled paste. With the aid of a long ladle, she scoops the oil into large basins where it is allowed to cool before filling it into gallons for sale.

With modern palm oil processing technologies unavailable to her, Patricia is compelled under the circumstances to resort to the obsolete method to process the oil.

Difficult as she describes her job, she does it all alone, bearing the excruciating heat, both from the fire and the boiling content. Asked if the heat did not adversely affect her health, she answered in the negative but fears she may soon break down.

Patricia supports her husband, a 35-year-old farmer, and driver in the running of their home with the proceeds from this business which the entire family depends on, though it’s not good enough. She said “I’m able to raise some profit from this which I feed my children with. It’s not enough but that’s all we get.”



She’s nevertheless exposed to the dangers of the hot boiling oil, both on the fire and on the ground. Thankfully, she does not allow children to get close to where she undertakes her processing activities to avoid accidents and other kinds of burns.

The challenges are also enormous for Patricia. Mentioning some of the challenges that confront her in the course of her job, she said finding firewood with which to fuel the process, commuting to the different communities to transact her business, as well as the sweltering heat from the fire, are challenges she’s forced to endure in the course of her work.

“Sometimes, its difficult getting firewood for my business, working close to the fire is also difficult so as you see me preparing this, it’ll take me a considerable period of time to be able to process another,” she bemoaned.

To facilitate their businesses, Patricia, together with two other women in the Bukunor community, are appealing for capital and modern palm kernel oil processing machines, from benevolent individuals and organisations, to expand their businesses.