Beside the extensive local use of the pods, the export statistics of 1909 show that 41 tons were shipped.
GINGER.—Zingiber officinale is not found in a wild state in Africa, but has been widely introduced throughout the tropical portions, although in Sierra Leone, alone among the West African countries, has it reached the important position of an export.
Owing to the defective methods of agriculture employed in the Colony, where for the most part ginger is cultivated, the roots or rhizomes do not attain a large size, and, in consequence, present great difficulties in decortication.
The common native method of preparation is to rub the washed and partially dried rhizomes in sand, and then to dry them more or less completely in the sun. The effect of this treatment is to remove a small portion of the outer skin from those prominences which come into contact with the sandy surface more readily, the depressions being left untouched. The native has found that the weight of the prepared ginger is increased by the adhesion of sand, and therefore prefers to employ this method to that of using a knife. The result is a very inferior product.
During the last few years attempts have been made among the ginger growers to deal directly with the European buyers, and a Farmers’ Association was formed with this object in view. Government assistance was obtained on the assurance that better methods of cultivation and preparation would be adopted, and this was done to a certain extent, but greater dependence seems to have been placed upon the supposed advantage to be obtained from shipping ginger of the usual inferior quality, without it passing through the local merchants’ hands. The result was, that a small quantity of selected ginger was sold at a good price, and a large quantity of common grade obtained a lower price than previously.
Recent experiments have shown that good results can be obtained with ginger in Sierra Leone if care be taken to deep-hoe the ground and then plant out the selected eyes from clean rhizomes. The custom of attempting to grow a crop in hard laterite gravel without proper cultivation is the chief cause of the malformed and small rhizomes usually obtained in native cultivation. Under improved conditions a crop of five tons per acre of good quality ginger has been procured.
Export Trade.—The following amounts of ginger have been shipped during the last decade:
| Tons | Value | Tons | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | 579 | 10,879 | 1913 | 2,048 | 35,468 |
| 1907 | 618 | 11,578 | 1914 | 1,213 | 15,639 |
| 1908 | 637 | 11,871 | 1915 | 567 | 8,091 |
| 1909 | 722 | 14,147 | 1916 | 971 | 25,814 |
| 1910 | 1,093 | 33,288 | 1917 | 1,136 | 25,863 |
| 1911 | 1,692 | 44,668 | 1918 | 1,576 | 39,306 |
| 1912 | 2,200 | 44,864 |
It is reported that, owing to the decline in price paid for Sierra Leone ginger in 1913, about one-third of the crop was left unharvested, and that the depreciation experienced was due to the competition from other sources of a better marketed product. It would be a pity if the promising opportunity of the country to become established as a large producer of ginger were altogether lost, owing to the want of a little care in cultivation and preparation of the product for the market.
The plant is essentially suited to certain parts of the Colony and Protectorate and is not subject to any serious diseases, the only recorded one being a fungus which attacks the rhizomes and causes yellowing of the leaves. This can be prevented from spreading if the plants be removed and burned as soon as the signs of attack are apparent on them.