Norntoma Cooperative
The Norntoma Cooperative is comprised of a dedicated group of 58 women in the community of Bamboi in the heart of Dega Homeland, Ghana. They are connected to BamCashea through our Shea Project Coordinator, Isaac Kalao. Norntoma translates to ‘made by the hands’ in Deg or ‘Mo,’ the indigenous tribal language of Bamboi and its surrounding communities, and the women have big dreams for creating their own economy from all kinds of handmade products from the rich environment around them.
Organized in 2015, Norntoma’s members span the ethnic composition of the diverse community of Bamboi and have regular meetings with a well-established executive board. They have been collecting shea nuts and renovating a facility that was donated by the traditional authority of Bamboi, and had been previously envisioned for agricultural processing. Currently experimenting with various batches of soap and pomade and the market potential of Bamboi (a regional market town), they are excited to reap the benefits of their labor by working together to establish a niche in Bamboi, and benefit from clean and efficient new technologies BamCashea is helping to introduce to traditional processing methods.
Organized in 2015, Norntoma’s members span the ethnic composition of the diverse community of Bamboi and have regular meetings with a well-established executive board. They have been collecting shea nuts and renovating a facility that was donated by the traditional authority of Bamboi, and had been previously envisioned for agricultural processing. Currently experimenting with various batches of soap and pomade and the market potential of Bamboi (a regional market town), they are excited to reap the benefits of their labor by working together to establish a niche in Bamboi, and benefit from clean and efficient new technologies BamCashea is helping to introduce to traditional processing methods.
Jebuni Cashew
The cashew farmers of Bamboi are organized into two separate cooperatives-each with 30 or more active members, and they came together to form the Bamboi Cashew Union in 2012 in order to collectively bargain for fair prices on their raw cashew nut. While Tabatha Rood was a PeaceCorps Volunteer in 2014 she worked with many of the farmers on yield optimization, and secondary income generating products—among which juice and jam were the most popular. Since her departure in 2016, former Peace Corps Counterpart Azaasumah Thomas Jebuni has continued to make juice with the apples on his farm, and upon realizing the potential of selling the juice en masse with other farmers as part of a Union initiative, has organized for the community to invest in the project’s success.
Cashew farmers are often subject to high investment costs (especially in the first few years of orchard establishment) and experience
the volatility of the raw cashew nut (RCN) market in Ghana each year, frequently not profiting from the amount of land and labor dedicated to the farm. In order to offset some of these negative factors in cashew farming, the Union has organized farmers to develop facilities to process cashew fruit, which is a viable source of secondary income. The Jebuni family hopes to work with the Bamboi
Cashew Farmers group and women of the Norntoma Cooperative to source apples and labor for a clean and timely harvest.
Cashew farmers are often subject to high investment costs (especially in the first few years of orchard establishment) and experience
the volatility of the raw cashew nut (RCN) market in Ghana each year, frequently not profiting from the amount of land and labor dedicated to the farm. In order to offset some of these negative factors in cashew farming, the Union has organized farmers to develop facilities to process cashew fruit, which is a viable source of secondary income. The Jebuni family hopes to work with the Bamboi
Cashew Farmers group and women of the Norntoma Cooperative to source apples and labor for a clean and timely harvest.