The calabash is one of the commonest household utensils used in Hausa and Fulani communities in Northern Nigeria, but its use has significantly declined in recent times.
Apart from being used as a household utensil, many use the calabash for home decoration and it is usually part of the gift items packaged for young brides.
Calabashes are also used in Hausa/Fulani communities for storage of fresh milk (Fura Da Nono), honey and herbal medicine, among others. But majority of Fulani fresh milk vendors now use plastic containers to store and sell milk, instead of the calabash. Milk is usually poured into a polythene bag before being placed in a plastic bucket for sale. Many people who used the calabash for storage, washing and serving food now use plastics.
Although the use of the calabash is in steady decline, a few people in northern Nigeria still use it for drinking water, palm wine and other locally made drinks.
At the popular Monday Market in Kaduna, a calabash seller, Malam Ibrahim, decried its low patronage, saying its demand is now very low.
He said he would be glad if people could go back to the use of the calabash. Ibrahim said he buys calabashes from wholesalers who go to villages in Kano or Sokoto to buy from farmers.
“Patronage from the Fulanis has dropped significantly. In the past, I sell over 100 calabashes of different sizes at the Monday market but now I hardly sell 20. Their prices depend on the size and design; designed calabashes are usually more expensive than plain ones,” he said.
Another calabash seller at Kawo Market, Kaduna, Inusa Mustapha, attributed the decline in use of calabashes to modernity. According to him, some people feel that keeping calabashes in their house makes them appear uncivilized. He advised people, especially women, to patronize local commodities. The calabash, he said, helps keep the natural taste of milk, unlike plastics.
The story however seems a little different in Sokoto as some farmers in the state said plastics do not in any way pose a threat to the use of the calabash, given the high level of its cultivation among peasant farmers and the high patronage it receives at local markets.
Calabashes are produced in Wamakko, Wurno, Goronyo, Binji, Silame and Shagari local government areas of Sokoto State. It is among the economically viable plants that can be grown in both dry and rainy seasons. According to Labbo Na Gada, a 60-year-old farmer who has cultivated calabashes for 40 years, he can produce N100,000 worth of calabashes from a N30,000 investment. He said compared to other farm produce, the return rate is remarkable.
He said calabashes take three months of constant care to harvest.
“When it starts growing, we have to change its positioning so that it maintains its round shape and grows to an appreciable size. We constantly change its position. We plant calabashes in the middle of the rainy season and nurture the plant until around February, when we harvest,” he said.
Labbo advised the government to establish a calabash processing company for farmers and employment generation.
Our correspondent gathered that the middle tissue of a calabash can be used as chicken feed or dried as supplement for firewood.
While some Fulani milk vendors in Kaduna argued that calabash use is declining as a result of its fragility, others attribute it to modernization, thus moving with the modern trend of using polythene and plastics.
Fura Da Nono is one of the highest selling local drinks in Kaduna State as many drink on the spot or buy in large quantities for their families.
While many vendors now sell Fura Da Nono in plastics, a few still use the calabash as they argue that real nono is meant to be in calabashes and not in plastic containers. Many consumers still prefer milk in calabashes, saying, it preserves its natural taste.
A consumer, Malam Shehu Ibrahim, said he preferred taking Fura Da Nono from calabashes, as he feels the natural taste better than taking it from plastic bowls or bottles.
“Most Fura Da Nono sellers no longer use calabashes to sell because they no longer sell the original milk from cows but adulterated milk,” he said.
On its fragile nature, a calabash seller said it needs good handling to protect them from damage before they are processed for sale.
An information sheet reviewed in November 2012 by the Cancer Society of New Zealand said there had been lot of talks on the safety of plastics in recent years with people expressing concern about the cancer risks linked to freezing water in plastic water bottles, re-using plastic water bottles, and leaving plastic water bottles exposed to heat or sun.
Plastic drinking bottles, particularly water bottles according to the society, are generally made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It further stated that two of the chemicals used in making this kind of plastic including di-ethylexyl adipate (DEHA) and di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) have been said to cause cancer but neither is classed as being carcinogenic (cancer causing).
The society also posits that there is no evidence that they have other harmful effects on humans, noting that freezing water in plastic bottles is not risky because cold temperature lowers the chances of chemicals being released from the plastic.
The Head of the Department of Food Technology in Kaduna Polytechnic, Balami Yusuf Ali, described the calabash as a natural plant that cannot resist what plastics can.
“The calabash cannot resist what other containers can resist. In some areas, inside the calabash is coated with something like clay and it becomes non-reactive. The inside of the calabash is porous, soft and absorbs moisture while the outside is not porous as such, whatever you put inside the calabash carries the taste of the calabash even though over time it will go. Also, the calabash cannot resist and it doesn’t come in the shape you want,” he said.
A farmer in Sokoto said the calabash could be processed into biscuits but the polytechnic don said, “Every fruit created by God is for a purpose but I doubt the edibility of the calabash, especially when it is mature, because human beings cannot digest cellulose.”
Commenting on the use of plastics for selling milk (Fura Da Nono), he said the problem with polyethylene and other petroleum products is when they are exposed to heat.
“When they are heated to a certain temperature, they begin to release the chemicals that were used in making them. Using plastic bottles have no problem if the temperature is not high to produce degradation, plastics are highly resistant to chemical activities and that is why it is possible to use them in carrying so many things including concentrated sulphuric acid among others but as long as there is no heat, there is no release of chemicals,” he said.
The Cancer Society of New Zealand however noted that water bottles can be safely re-used but should be well washed in hot soapy water often to make sure they do not pick germs.
Evidence available to medical science also showed that it is not prohibited to use plastics for packaging food but there are however harmful chemicals that are within plastics which can be released into the body through food.
According to Dr. Shehu Abdurrahman, a chemical pathologist with the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, even when plastics are under normal atmosphere, chemicals could be slowly released and exposure to heat or sun could further accelerate the release of chemicals.
Based on animal studies done on some of chemicals like Bisphynol A (BPA), the chemical has been found to affect the functions of the female hormones, especially the estrogen. In humans, no scientific study has been done, but it has however been established that every adult human has minute quantity of BPA in the blood but the quantity has not been found significant enough to cause diseases.
“That is why the Food and Drugs Administration Agency of the United States of America (USA) maintained that the use of plastic containers is still safe. Although, there has been medical advice to reduce exposure to food or drinks in plastics and cans as much as possible,” Dr. Shehu who is also the Kaduna State chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) said while he encouraged the use of natural containers like the calabash and ceramics among others for preserving food, noting that they are safer.
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