Flowers Bank Village, the former logwood settlement in the Belize River
Valley is writ large in Belizean history – most notably for the Flowers
Bank Negroes, a band of brothers and breakaway slaves who made history in 1786
when they took their destiny into their own hands and became freedom fighters.
But apart from freedom fighting, Flowers Bank is also known for cohune oil extraction.
That tradition also dates back to logwood times when families used the production
of cohune oil to supplement their income when the village’s menfolk would
go to cut logwood for months at a time.
That tradition has stayed with them but it is very labour intensive
nd this is the 21st century. Now a new project seeks to modernize the extraction
of cohune oil and the refinement of the process until it can be offered as a
cheap locally produced alternative available on store shelves right next to
1-2-3 cooking oil. We found out more a ground breaking ceremony today.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
This is the dried cohune in the old days and right up to the present, it used
to be processed into oil by hand beginning with an axe which is used to split
it open. After that…
Ruben Rhaburn, Member of the Community Cohune Group
“What we do is we have something that is called mortar that is made
out of wood and then you mortar stick, a round stick that is shaped and then 
we have the cohune into the mortar and then we pound it until it is refined
and when it is refined you take it and then you put it in a drum and then you
boil it. When you boil it, the fat will float to the top and then you take a
plate and you take off your oil, and then you put it into a next pot, a smaller
pot, and then you fry it to get out all the water because if you leave the water
in there it is going to spoil. So you have to fry it until all the water is
out.”
Gary Ramirez, Agricultural District Coordinator – Belize
“The situation previously in Flower’s Bank was that the cohune
oil processing was labour intensive where the particular producer had to go
collect the nuts, had to crack the nuts, had to do the entire processing and
labor intensive activities. With the implementation of such a facility the producers
will be able to produce a larger amount of cohune oil to supply the local market
at a cheaper cost of production, a lower cost of production, and will be able
to offer the product at a more competitive price to the local consumers.”
And that’s because the cohune which grows so abundantly in this area
will now be processed not by hand, but in this plant, a $150,000 investment
which will be built on this government provided acre of land where ground was
broken today.
Gary Ramirez,
“The days are gone where you process a particular product in your 
backyard and expect to get the best quality price for it on the local market.
We are looking at working with these people in Flowers Bank to provide and produce
a product that is acceptable to the average standards for safety in Belize and
for that they will be able to access greater markets and create larger or more
income generation for the average family in Flowers Bank.”
Fortunato Noble,
How easier will the job be?
Ruben Rhaburn,
“A lot easier because the hardest part of making this cohune oil is
to refine the nut. We don’t have to beat it, we can just put it in the
machine, it will refine it and the machine will do the job now.”
And while machines will do the work, the community will benefit.
Gary Ramirez,
“The current food prices and the current rise or soar in food prices,
we are looking at one of the imported cooking oils that sits on the shelves
and the price that that product has now risen to. We are more that comfortable
that the locally produced cohune oil with the implementation of such a facility
will be able to be competitive to the imported cohune oil, coconut oil.”
Jessie Young, CBS Women’s Conservation Group
“I think it is time for us to rise up and help ourselves. Nobody will
do it for us, we have to do it for ourselves.”
$24,000 for the cohune oil processing facility was disbursed today.
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