Women, Charcoal and the Cost of Survival

In Sokoban, a suburb of Kumasi, the air hangs heavy with smoke. Not from traffic. Not from harmattan. But from burning wood — the backbone of a charcoal trade that feeds families while quietly damaging lungs.In this episode, host Michael Asharley sits down with Asaase Radio reporter Lordina Agyemang to unpack her powerful story on the women at the heart of Ghana’s informal charcoal industry. Women like Margaret Awuni, diagnosed with chronic bronchitis after years of tending smoky kilns. When her doctor asked if she smoked marijuana, she laughed. Her only habit was burning charcoal to survive.The episode explores a growing health crisis in Sokoban, where PM2.5 pollution levels have reportedly soared far beyond safe limits, asthma cases are rising, and tensions are mounting between charcoal producers and residents. A court injunction ordered the women to stop burning wood near homes, but many refused — not out of defiance, but because relocation could mean losing their only source of income.Beyond the smoke lies a deeper story about poverty, weak enforcement, deforestation, and the high cost of traditional charcoal production. Ghana continues to lose forest cover each year, while inefficient kilns waste most of the wood they burn.Can livelihoods be protected without sacrificing lungs? Is there a realistic path toward cleaner production that women can afford?Clean Air Report Ghana is a collaboration between New Narratives and leading Ghanaian newsrooms. Funding is provided by the Clean Air Fund which had no say in the reporting.