The emerging high technology in virtually every aspect of life, is threatening the once lucrative local business of mortars and pestles making. Our correspondents, Nanna Selkur and Rose Owota Adah examine the threat.
Customers go to them with so many thrills. They watch them with great high regard and puzzlement as they carve mortars and pestles out of hard wood.
By the time their customers are leaving the delight of the craftsmen know no bounds. Almost on a daily basis, they beam to their various banks. But that was some years ago.
Today, Mr. Gbadamosi Mohammed, a Kastina State born maker of mortars and pestles say the business of making mortars and pestles are fading out and consequently, their smiles are gone with the wind, replaced by fear and fretfulness.
“They (customers) come excited, watching us with great admiration and bewilderment as we carve mortars and pestles out of woods. And as they leave, more and more mortars accompany them and our joy knew no bounds. Today our smiles are gone with the wind, replaced by desperation and anxiety”, Mohammed told LEADERSHIP.
He fears that with emerging high technology in virtually every aspect of life, the once lucrative local business and handwork is being threatened. For almost every manmade tool, there is a technological tool, machine or device made to replace it.
In place of grinding stone, you’ve got blender; in the place of firewood, you’ve got stove, gas cooker, electric cooker and microwave to make food preparation fast and stress free. And the question: what becomes of people whose means of livelihood is through these handcrafts like mortars and pestles?
These two products could be carved from wood, fired clay or granite like the type found in Thailand. But electric wonders designed to make cooking easy, like the blender, food mill and food processor have attacked the mortar and pestle, yet it has stubbornly resisted and is still found in most kitchens.
The reason is simple. It does a better job than its electrical competitors. They cut, while it (blender) bruises and mashes, releasing the oils and flavours necessary for real taste.
Craftsmen in this art have refused to give up their art despite pressures from know-how to push their art into extinction. But gone are the days when people make effective use of mortars and pestles; the uses are fast being left to people in villages where the alternative devices cannot be used due to high cost or unavailability of electricity.
But interestingly, craftsmen who are into this art could still be located at some major highways in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and more interesting is the fact that they have refused to give up their art for some ‘technological devices’. Mortars and pestles are used for pounding substances into small bits/ pieces and even powdery forms.
For pounding yam, spices and for removing chaffs from grains like millet, corn, guinea corn and many other things. Its function can never be overemphasized.
But unfortunately for the carvers of these tools, its users are gradually going into extinction as technology has provided alternative means for pounding and grinding.
There are now specialized machines for peeling off chaffs from grains as well as machines for pounding yams. You can have your pounded yam freshly done by machines and can also have it in powdery form, called Poundo Yam.
In fact, all you need to do if you wish to eat pounded yam is to walk into the nearest shop and pick up a small sachet of Poundo Yam and within seconds, your pounded yam is ready to serve. And if you want it freshly made, all you need is the machine for pounding yam and you’re good. Almost everything has become mechanized.
Watching as craftsmen display their already carved mortars and pestles along Gwarimpa/Kubwa expressway in the FCT, the questions that crop up are: ‘Do people still patronize them? Haven’t they heard of the advent of mechanized tools and machines that are even stress free?
For Mohammed, a mortar and pestle carver, who inherited the art from his father and has been in the art for 15 years, he actually went into the art to continue the legacy his father left behind and to also enjoy the popularity his father enjoyed.
He said, “I inherited this art from my father and I have been on it for 15 years. This particular area used to be a forest, where we get the woods to make mortars and pestles but, it was changed by the late General Sani Abacha regime and we now have to travel as far as Otukpo in Benue State to get woods to enable us continue in the art.”
“We used to carve strictly with our hands but a machine has been made, which carves mortar and pestle, making the job easier. Such machines can be found in Otukpo; so we go there to buy machine-carved mortars and pestles as well as woods to make the handmade ones.”
Asked how lucrative the art has been, he said, “Before now, all manner of people come here to patronize us. White men come here to buy our mortars, which serves as flower vase, but this is no longer the case.
You hardly see people stop to patronize us. We take some of our products from here to Kaduna, Zaria and other northern states to sell. I am really getting discouraged by the day and I am considering leaving the art for something more lucrative.”
Adamu Audu, a Nigerien, who finds the art beautiful and unique, travelled all the way to Abuja, Nigeria to learn the art of carving mortar and pestle with the hope to start a trade here in the country. Unfortunately, he discovered that the art is no longer lucrative, he is now considering going back to Cameroun.
“I am a Nigerien living in Cameroun where I have run a shop for 21 years now. I came to Nigeria three months ago with the hope of learning to carve mortar and pestle, but I am really disappointed that the art I heard so much about is gradually going to extinction. I have decided to go back to Cameroun to farm, that would be more lucrative,” he lamented.
For Mr. Illiasu Abara, who is married to two wives with eight children, economy and advancement in technology is to blame for the decline in the art and trade of mortar and pestle.
“I blame the Nigerian economy and all these devices that the white man has introduced to the country for what we are going through. The trade wasn’t like this, people come from all corners to patronize us but there is nothing like that anymore”, he stated.
“Since the beginning of this week, I’ve been able to sell only two pestles; yet people come from the tax office to collect N5, 000 from us weekly without considering the fact that we stay here in the sun without selling anything.”
Can he give the art up, considering these discouragements? Abara says, “This is the only thing I know how to do best, I’ll continue despite all odds.”
But in spite of the advanced technology that is pushing these products out of market, some people still prefer using them.?
Mrs. Abakpa, who is also a working mother, argued that there could never be anything like local mortar and pestle.
“I have the big as well as small mortar in my house and I make effective use of them. If you really want to eat good food with all the nutrients intact, run from blenders, food mills and the likes. I hear of poundo yam but it’s not as tasty and rich as the locally pounded one; so I can never taste it again. No matter what people say, I’ll always go for the local tools,” she argued.
However, Mrs. Jane Oduh told LEADERSHIP that she prefers using her machine device for all sorts of pounding and grinding since it is less stressful and time saving.
Hear her, “You don’t expect me to keep using local mortar when there are alternatives everywhere; do you? Pounding with mortar and pestle takes a lot of energy, no matter how little you are pounding.”
“I am a working mother, who needs to do a lot to keep the family happy; so I really need to preserve my energy because I will need a lot of it. I prefer my blender and pounding machine to the local mortar and pestle.”