Emmanuel Agyemfra Boateng
"I have to come here around 10 am to oder for this 5lt Frytol gallon of Pito, even this one i didnt order it early so the gallon wasnt full,but how you for do am" this was what a colleague of mine in Jirapa told us when we went to a popular Pito joint in Jirapa in a vicinity called the C section.The place is shady and customers troop in from from 6am in the morning to 11pm in the night.
The people of Upper West pride themselves with the brewing of the best Pito and the people of Jirapa boast of being the best Pito brewers in the World!this is an assertion the People of Upper East dont take lightly atall but Daagares in the Frafra land who brew Pito pull customers more than the Frafra pito brewers do.
I've been in Jirapa for the past three weeks and during the night theres a special market where they sell nothing but Pito,Koose,Pork and Dog meat and the patronage is massive just like the West Hills Mall in Accra.
Pito comes in different two differrent types thats the fermented and unfermented one.Pito is patronized by all groups of people and no matter the occassion,Pito represents and the other drinks shake uncomfortably! from Church programmes,weddings,Outdoorings,Funerals,Picnicks,Parties and more.
The prices of Pito vary fom the smallest earthern pot to the Frytol 5lt and atimes people specially order the 20lt gallons depending on the type of programme.
Market days in Jirapa is very beautiful,looking at different people from various walks of life with products ranging from edible and non edible goods.But a Market day in the Headquarters of Pito Breweries will never start or end without the sale of PITO and koose!Pito vendors take half of the market and this really attest to the fact that,Pito is really the water here in the Upper West and its surrondings
The nature of my job makes me enter more than ten houses in a day, in remote villages around Jirapa you dont leave a house without the occupant asking to offer you a calabash of Pito,which atimes you must show respect by taking a little.
We visited another place and a customer was very furious that he has been sitting there for an hour after odering just Gh 1.50 of a bottle of Pito and it seems the attendants were not recognizing him,latter they served him and the hot evening pito made the angry youngman remove his shirt to prevent suffocation and enjoyerd his pito with the foam around his small mouthstache.
Some time ago i read Emmanuel Samini a.k,a Batman Samini was planning to rebrand Pito to meet international standard but never heard anything again,The way and manner Pito is being consumed among citizens in Ghana and specially in the three Northern Regions shows how much it's adding to our GDP and how smart we as a country should be to brand Pito and sell to the world market.
If we have Koko King,who has now branded our porridge,Rice porridge and other cereals to meet international standards,why cant Pito go beyond the earthern pot and compete with the Don Garcias and other paper wines in the world market.
Now aburo ne nkate3 comes in bottles and disposal cups properly covered,so Pito should be helped to graduate from the earthen pot.
The Honourable Minister of Tourism and her team have a lot of work to do.
Pito and koose is the order of the day when there,s no food around.We will talk about the koose another day but always remember the best PITO is brewed in the Upper West Region and the best in the Region is no nwhere than Jirapa!
I know my Frafra friends will never agree to this article but i learnt there's a a Pito base in Bolgatanga with an inscription boldly written on the door "DAAGARE PITO"
NORTHERN GHANA...Y3 W) ADZE OYE
Contact the writer on emmanuelagyenfra@yahoo.com/0508609109/0249542342