Anyone for Ghanaian Coconuts? What's Ghana Government Policy on its export?

First: is there such a thing as Ghanaian coconuts? Anecdotal evidence suggests there is. Those who have tasted Nigerian coconuts say it pales into comparison to that of Ghana's on account of the juice alone.

Second: Coconuts are sold all over the capital -- nay, all over the country -- but you are sure to get some almost every corner of Accra and even its suburbs.

They go for less than a dollar. These days, that's a VERY loaded term, but rest assured they are affordable for everyone.

Today's not the day to tell you about health benefits of coconut, which are immense!

Just to say that: although West Africa is home to coconuts (at least Ghana; Nigeria; & Cote d'Ivoire feature), no West African country is in the top 10 of coconut production. That prestige goes to the East African country of Tanzania, which produced (according to 2009 figures) 577,099 thousand tonnes.

That said, UNCTAD reports that as far as coconut oil is concerned, Cote d'Ivoire is in there, with 28000 tonnes*, while it exports 19,849 tonnes* at a value of USD3,725,000 -- as per UNCTAD's data!

Again: no other West African country features, prompting my immediate question: what is my government doing strategically to ensure we enhance the value chain of our coconuts, and get to the stage where we can compete with our West African neighbour to the West of Ghana?

*Source: http://www.unctad.info/en/Infocomm/AACP-Products/COMMODITY-PROFILE---Coconut2/

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#FilmNoir: Thinking of #Greece, Being Ghanaian...we are all Greeks today!

At a time Ghana is ready to accept next tranche of IMF money in August, it is very refreshing to see the simplicity, albeit sartorially-eloquent style, of outgone-Finance Minister Varoufakis -- a Minister who had the testicular fortitude to make history by encouraging Greeks to vote "Oxi", or "No!" to more bailouts from Europe.

It is speculated that for having dared call the Troika of the European Commission; European Central Bank; and IMF "terrorists", they no can no longer countenance his presence among negotiators.

Very democratic, that!

#lifeunderIMF

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Film Noir, #Accra-style: of High-Rise Buildings by Accra's Beach

I took this picture around the beach, near Osu, at the centre of Accra. Ghana's Social Security National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has invested our pensions heavily into some up-and-coming flats near the beach, which prices are most likely high-and-exorbitant, totally outside the brackets of the putative middle-class family with 2.5 children!

I deliberately used a blue-ish filter as a kind of tongue-in-cheek to the film genre "film noir", which connotes gritty realism: a fatalism that has an under-current of menace, or a sense of foreboding of storm clouds ahead.

Simply put: there is a falling cedi, yet a surge of high-rise buildings. A veritable film noir, Accra-style!

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Happy 55th Republic Day to Ghana!

● As a potential #Grexit weighs heavily on the minds of #Europe, will this small West African country, which was once the darling of the West for what some consider its successful prosecution of #IMF policies, begin to take cues from #Greece?

Further, as it goes down another round of IMF money, will Ghana consider how Grexit may inform Ghana's own locus in the West African integration dynamic of #ECOWAS when it's #paybacktime to the IMF? Will Ghana continue to overlook the regional space, including Ecowas Bank for Investment & Development, or will it experience the regional-panacea epiphany? #AFRICAINFOCUSSHOW

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