Approaching Aneho, the first silhouette outlining the horizon is neither a mountain nor a skyscraper, but the ceaseless shimmering of palm fronds in the ocean wind. The copra economy and the vast coconut plantations have literally shaped the history of this seaside city. More than just a tropical postcard backdrop, the coconut tree was the financial engine of the Togolese coastline for nearly a century.
To understand the historical prosperity of the former capital, one must look up to this providential tree, whose dried nuts fueled global soap and cosmetics markets, thereby forging the Aneho economy.
The Coconut Tree: The Tree of Life of the Togolese Coast
The coconut tree does not demand rich soil. It thrives in saline sand, where no other cash crop could survive. For coastal populations, it is truly the tree of life, as absolutely no part of it is wasted.
A Resource with Multiple Traditional Uses
Even before becoming a massive export product, the coconut tree served the local subsistence economy:
- Trunk wood: Extremely robust and moisture-resistant, used as framework for traditional homes and boatmen's awnings.
- Woven fronds: Serve as natural roofing, fences, or woven mats (Agbado).
- Coconut water: A purifying and refreshing drink, offered to guests or used in certain spiritual libations.
- Coir (husk fiber): Fibers from the outer shell are braided to make highly seawater-resistant ropes.
The Golden Age of Copra in Aneho
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the rise of European industry, the demand for vegetable fats exploded. Aneho, with its coastal strip stretching to the Ghanaian border, became a neuralgic hub of this new green rush.
Trading Posts and Exportation
Ships would drop anchor off the Wharf, waiting for pirogues to surf the formidable Atlantic Ocean rollers to load tons of jute sacks filled with copra. The city's entire economy revolved around this rhythm. The great merchant families, the famous Agudas, and European merchants built their splendid two-story colonial houses (still visible today in the Adjido district) from the profits of this export.
The Demanding Process of Nut Transformation
Copra refers to the dried kernel of the coconut. Its production is intensely physical work broken down into several ritualized steps:
- Harvesting: Agile climbers scale the smooth trunks of coconut trees, sometimes 20 meters high, armed with a machete to cut mature bunches.
- Dehusking: The nuts are struck against a pointed stake planted in the sand to tear off the thick fibrous husk.
- Sun drying: The nuts are split in two, and the white kernel is exposed to the baking sun of the Togolese coast for several days until it detaches from the shell.
- Pressing: If not exported raw, it is pressed locally to extract pure coconut oil, used for cooking and body care.
The Decline and Rebirth of the Industry
However, the splendor of this monoculture did not indefinitely survive the agricultural and economic hazards of the 20th century.
The Threat of Lethal Yellowing
In the 1980s and 1990s, a terrible phytopathology called Lethal Yellowing (a disease caused by a phytoplasma) ravaged the coconut groves of West Africa. In a few years, entire palm forests saw their leaves dry and crowns fall, leaving decapitated trunks pointing at the sky like utility poles. Copra production collapsed, forcing populations to fall back on cross-border trade and fishing.
New Artisanal Perspectives
Today, Aneho's coconut economy is rising from its ashes, but in a different form. The replanting of resistant hybrid varieties has revived the crop. The focus is no longer on raw copra export for heavy Western industry, but on high value-added local transformation.
Women's cooperatives organize to produce cold-pressed coconut oil, artisanal soaps, and highly prized natural cosmetics. The tree of life reclaims its rightful place: no longer as an instrument of colonial exploitation, but as the symbol of a circular economy, resilient and proudly rooted in the sand of Aneho.