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Cane-basket weaving is a popular Ghanaian vocation, which can be traced back to pre-colonial times.
The skills needed to create beautiful and useful baskets could take many years to master.
But do you know each cane basket has a unique name?
Aunty Atta, a cane basket weaver in the Ashanti Region, has special names for her wares, based on their shapes and designs.
“We named this basket ‘eight-eight’ because it’s designed like the number, eight. The cocoa basket is also shaped like the cocoa pod.
Unlike the cane basket, this basket is made of bamboo, that’s why we call it ‘bamboo basket’. If you take a look at the bottom and the handle of the basket, it’s shaped like an iron, so it’s called an iron.
This basket is also made of only net, so it’s referred to as the net basket,” she explained.
The designs, according to her, attract patrons, mostly foreigners, to purchase most of her products.
“Most of my customers are foreigners, some of them buy the basket in large quantities and export them. They purchase the cane furniture too,” she said.
With little or no formal education, the cane-basket weaving business has provided job opportunities for the youth.
Under a tattered canopy is 34-year-old Baba, a footballer turned cane weaver.
Baba tells Luv News that quitting football is one of the best decisions he took, because the cane business is lucrative.
“I quit football because I was not getting any income from it, luckily my uncle introduced me to the cane weaving business and it has really helped me. This has since been my source of income, it helped me to foot the bill for my marriage,” he noted.
82-year-old Kyei Baffour, a cane weaver of many years, is encouraging the youth to venture into the business.
“The youth don’t want to venture into this business because they think it’s not lucrative, but that’s not true, it’s a very good business,” he advised.
A lot of energy and time goes into making a beautiful cane basket.
All the artisans need is patronage of the locally-made products, like their beautiful baskets, to encourage local enterprises.
Source: myJoy
