Anlo shallot
GI Type:
Food
GI Status:
Potential
Right Holder / Association:
n/a
GI Identifier:
GHGI000000
Type of Product:
Vegetable
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Characteristics / Features
The Anlo shallots are red or yellow small size onions grown in the Volta region of Ghana.
The name of this origin product is Anlo/Ayegbe Dzeene that literally means: the onion from the Voltarians or Anlo people.
They are sweeter, better to cook than the normal big size onion and are known to have special health properties.
Production and Processing
Very vivid communities and collective organization
Anlo shallots producers are members of the “Keta municipality vegetable growers and marketers”. This umbrella organization sets prices for perishable vegetables, such as tomatoes, and organizes trainings on different husbandry practices.
In each of the 20 villages of the area of production, gathering around 3 000 small-scale producers, several grower communities are organized into producer groups that are members of the umbrella association. These groups facilitate the exchange of good growing practices (water and pest management) and organize the planning of the production.
A domestic market and an export one to Togo
Shallots are exported exclusively to Togo. The historical ties Anlo producers have with the Anlo population living in Togo and the proximity of Lomé and other towns in the south of the country eases exports to Togo. The long-standing trade of seedlings between producers strengthens the relation between Anlo leaving on both sides of the border, as Togolese producers produce white shallot seedlings with the smallest shallots supplied by the Ghanaian growers.
However, the domestic demand absorbs most of the production. The shallot growers
leave to traders from outside of the area of production – mostly Ashanti women – to organize shallot commercialization.
Link with the Territory
The Anlo shallot benefits from a very specific terroir. The geography of the area of production, located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Keta lagoon, is on the list of wetlands of international importance by the Ramsar convention, and creates strong interactions between the small strip where shallots are cropped and the different water areas. This precious and so specific ecosystem is the natural resource of Anlo shallot and needs to be preserved.
There is a huge tourism potential that could contribute to the reputation of the Anlo shallot.
Ghanaian consumers associate shallots with the area of production, calling them Anlo shallots or more often the “onions of the water region”.
A strong identity related to this territory shapes his inhabitants’ lifestyle and traditions.