Of all the stories many Ghanaians know of the man who first brought cocoa seedlings to Ghana, the narratives that they came from Fernando Po (now Equatorial Guinea) and that Tetteh Quarshie was only able to smuggle the seeds by swallowing them have been the most predominant.
Well, while only one of those two narratives is true, did you also know that the man who has been credited with Ghana’s signature cocoa producing acumen to date was a blacksmith?
A blacksmith who gifted Ghana its most profitable cash crop, that’s the true story of the man Tetteh Quarshie.
The 1879 story that has been told without a number has somehow also missed the very fine and interesting detail that Ghana’s Tetteh Quarshie was not even the greatest farmer the country has ever had.
This historical correction was shared with GhanaWeb’s Wonder Ami Hagan when she visited the Tetteh Quarshie’s Cocoa Farm at Mampong Akuapem, in the Easter Region, in 2020.
Now, this is the true story.
Tetteh Quarshie was in Fernando Po on a missionary journey, and on his return, just like all others on such pilgrimages, there was the need for him to pass through a checkpoint.
This was to allow for all such travellers to be checked to ensure that, while on return from their respective countries at the time, they were not carrying any foreign items.
Tetteh Quarshie may not have known the effect the decision he was making at the time would have on his home country, Ghana, but he made a smart move.
Being a blacksmith, he kept all his working tools in a toolbox. This box was the last place anyone would have checked for any foreign items or goods, and so that was exactly where he kept them.
But all he could keep in there were six cocoa pods; a plant he had discovered in that country on the west coast of Africa.
It became a well-cooked plan, and over the six-week journey Tetteh Quarshie undertook on the sea in 1879, to the coast of the Gold Coast, his pods remained intact.
In the words of Thomas Awuku, who has been working at the Tetteh Quarshie Farm for years, a job handed down to him by his father, who also took over the management of the farm from Tetteh Quarshie:
“That’s the history we also learnt about him, but when I got to this stage, I realised they were telling us a lot of lies about Tetteh Quarshie. Tetteh Quarshie didn’t swallow cocoa beans before he brought them to Ghana because in the 1870s travelling was difficult. There were no aeroplanes for travelling so we travelled by sea – either with ship or canoe. Tetteh Quarshie went with the ship, and it took him six weeks from Ghana to Fernando Po, which is currently known as Equatorial Guinea.
“Assuming he swallowed the cocoa beans and for six weeks on the ship, are they trying to tell us that the whole six weeks on the sea, he couldn’t visit the washroom? And if he did, it means everything went back straight into the sea so we never got back the beans and returned back to Ghana,” he told GhanaWeb’s Wonder Ami Hagan on People and Places.
Explaining further the story, Thomas said that even on his return to the Gold Coast, Tetteh Quarshie made an unsuccessful attempt at planting the first seed in Accra, as the soil type – mostly sandy and clayey, did not allow the crop to grow.
It was only when another missionary work came and took him to Mampong Akuapem that he found good soil.
Who is Tetteh Quarshie, the blacksmith who brought cocoa to Ghana?
Tetteh Quarshie was an apprentice in a Basel mission workshop at Akropong in the Eastern region of Ghana.
Historical accounts state that through his experience as a blacksmith, he was able to travel to the Fernando Po Island (now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea) in 1870.
His rise to fame began after six years, when Quarshie, whose hobby was then farming, came back to Ghana with several cocoa beans, also known as Amelonado, and planted them on his farm at Mampong-Akuapim, a small town in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
The crop, which matures within 3 to five years, began being consumed by the people of Mampong, who would later know how to grow it with the help of Quarshie.
Soon, Mampong became the first cocoa hub of the country as the crop was now a commercial product for huge business and income.
By 1891, cocoa beans or cuttings were being sent to other countries such as Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Sadly, Tetteh Quarshie was not able to witness his country’s first official export of two cocoa bags in 1893 as he died on Christmas Day, December 25, 1892.
His relatives made a petition to the Gold Coast Government on February 25th, 1925 for a grant for the upkeep of some of Tetteh Quarshie’s relatives.
The then Ghanaian Vice-Principal of Achimota College, Dr. J.E.K. Aggrey strenuously took up the appeal. His friend, Sir Gordon Guggisberg set up the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Scholarship at Achimota College. Other honors were bestowed on him.
Family
Tetteh Quarshie was born in about 1842 to a farmer from Teshie known as Mlekubo. His mother was known as Ashong-Fio from Labadi, both hailing from the Ga-Dangme ethnic group. In his teens Tetteh Quarshie became an apprentice in a Basel Mission workshop at Akropong. Due to his hard work he soon became a master blacksmith and was in fact the first blacksmith to be established at Akuapim-Mampong. His hobby was farming.
Tetteh Quarshie cocoa farm
The Tetteh Quarshie cocoa farm, also known as the Ecomuseum of Cocoa, is the founding cocoa farm in Ghana. It is located in Akuapem-Mampong around 58km from Accra. Tetteh Quarshie established the farm in 1879 using seeds brought back from Bioko, Equatorial Guinea Three trees planted by Quarshie remain at the farm.
The farm is currently around one acre in size, and is managed by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana.
Although this feat did not continue in subsequent years, Ghana’s cocoa is still praised as being of the highest quality, earning the country hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the export of the beans and processed materials.
Ghana’s cocoa sector also employs over 2 million people and constitutes a large portion of Ghana’s GDP.
Honour
In honour of his contribution to the above, various memorials in Ghana have been set up in the name of Tetteh Quarshie, namely the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital, Tetteh Quarshie Art market, Tetteh Quarshie Interchange and the Tetteh Quarshie House in Achimota.
Additional information from mobile.ghanaweb.com