Mali: Shea production vital to women's incomes

by Soumaïla T. Diarra

Across the semi-arid Sahel region of West Africa, the shea tree prized by women, who produce a butter from its nuts that is a key ingredient in food and cosmetics. However, drought and diseases threaten this source of income.

"Shea represents 80 percent of rural women's income," says Fatoumata Coulibaly, explaining how women go out to collect the nuts and later process them to make shea butter. Coulibaly is a member of La Maison du karité ("the House of Shea"), a women's group in Siby, a village in southern Mali. She was interviewed during Global Shea, an international forum on shea trade that took place in mid-March in Bamako, the Malian capital.

Shea trees grow wild in West Africa. According to experts, they take 25 years to reach maturity and their lifetime can span two centuries. In the rainy season, women pick the trees' fruit – a sweet pulp wrapped around an oily kernel. In the dry season, they sell a portion of their nuts to international companies and process the rest themselves for sale on the local market.

In West Africa, shea butter is used in cooking by nearly 80 percent of the rural population. Its also used in traditional medicine, and the wood from the tree is prized as fuel.

The trees many uses have assured its protection for centuries by local populations, some of whom even consider it sacred.

"We treat shea with respect. That is why we organise ceremonies when shea treas reach maturity," said Nayouma Coulibaly, a woman from Tioribougou, a village in southern Mali.

But now, according to the Albert Schweitzer Ecological Centre, a Swiss-based nongovernmental organization (NGO), shea trees face many threats such as drought, diseases and over-use as a source of firewood.

Not all observers agree that there is a problem.

"I don't think there's cause to worry. Actually, the number of shea trees is on the rise, because people have now started planting them. I've done so myself," said Seydou Kone.

Kone is a trade technician with AMEPROC, Mali's association of exporters of agricultural products, headquartered in Bamako. AMEPROC is combatting shea tree disappearance and disease by conducting public education in rural areas where shea trees are threatened, training local populations on shea planting and protection.

Among the roughly 16 countries where shea grows, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin and Nigeria represent the bulk of world production. Mali occupies an important position in the market.

"With nearly 150 million shea treas, Mali is ranked second largest producer after Burkina Faso with an output of about 60,000 tonnes per year," Kadidiatou Lah said. Lah is a shea butter exporter based in Bamako. She's also the president of Mali's National Federation of Shea Exporters, which trains rural women in shea trea planting.

The growth of international demand for shea outside Africa is explained in part by its expanded use by the food industry in some developed countries. In 2000, a decree came into effect in Europe allowing chocolate manufacturers to use a limited amount of fat other than cocoa butter in their products, up to five percent.

This change in regulations, which had previously been the case in Japan, the United States and Eastern Europe, has opened up new opportunities for shea. "Today countries from all continents import shea butter or shea nuts to extract butter," confirmed Lah.

Local shea producers have no influence over the price fetched by shea nuts and butter internationally. "The prices change frequently on the international market, but at the moment a kilogramme of shea nuts costs between 500 and 600 CFA francs (just over one U.S. dollar)," said Kone.

Large companies prefer to buy their shea nuts from villages through local buyers who roam the countryside. However, these intermediaries make far more profit from the trade than rural women producers.

"The local market is different," Kone said. "In Mali, the current price of a kilogramme of shea nuts is 75 CFA francs (15 cents U.S.)."

Large firms are reluctant to buy shea butter produced by local rural women due to its strong smell. Industry professionals, explain that this smell can be avoided by following certain procedures during processing.

But the extraction method used by most Malian women is not very efficient, extracting roughly 27 percent of the oils from the nuts, compared to 40 to 50 percent achieved with industrial technology, experts say.

However, locally produced butter has seen improvements. In addition to serving the local market, fair trade schemes have allowed women to export valuable finished product to large markets in developed countries.

IPS

West African shea butter production increases

Three years ago, Jacob Shinka first heard the English word for kadanya or maikade, the shea butter mixed into soap and used in cooking during his childhood in Nigeria’s Kebbi State. He also began learning about shea butter’s export potential and began attending Trade Hub workshops in Ghana and Nigeria to gain the knowledge needed to launch his own shea enterprise.

Today, Shinka’s Meena Agro Oil is benefiting from a swiftly rising tide of global interest in edible and cosmetic shea, which is spurring investment, new business and grass-roots education across West Africa – as well as government evaluations of shea’s value to national economies.

Shea nut exports from West Africa now total an estimated $100 million, said the Hub’s shea specialist, Dr. Peter Lovett – who first began tracking sales 15 years ago. In 1994, only 50,000 tons were exported at an average $150/ton, bringing in less than $10 million to the region. Prices have increased – in Ghana, the current average is $400/ton – as have volumes: this year’s estimated crop is 250,000 tons. Yet shea is still cheaper than other vegetable fats, such as cocoa, the price of which peaked at over $3,000/ton in recent months.

This largely explains shea’s popularity: The bulk of West African shea nuts and butter still goes to Europe, where it’s used as a less expensive alternative to cocoa butter in chocolate and pastries. Shinka sells his butter to one of the world’s largest providers of agricultural products through a London-based trading house. Last year, he shipped 120 metric tons, he said; this year, he has a contract for 1,000 tons.

“They said they want to test our capacity for producing high quantities of high-quality butter,” Shinka said. “As much as we can produce, they will buy.”

Yet Shinka learned the hard way that volume isn’t enough. In late 2006, he leased a factory in Nigeria, which mechanically processed seven tons of shea butter a day. But the quality was so poor that the buyer reduced the price and threatened to cancel the contract altogether. Shinka went back to villages, which have traditionally produced high-quality shea – as long as they follow improved processing procedures.

With guidance from the Hub including on-the-ground assistance from Lovett, Shinka has trained hundreds of rural women on proper nut selection, sun-drying and keeping impurities out of the final product. Today, he collects butter from a network of 100 women’s cooperatives in Kebbi State and transports it by refrigerated truck to a warehouse in Lagos. Quality remains high, even as quantities increase, thanks to the emphasis on training along the entire value chain – a key lesson from the Hub’s workshops, studies and export guides.

The Hub has organized shea-quality trainings in rural Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana, Nigeria and Mali, sometimes in cooperation with the U.S. Peace Corps. Most recently in mid-March, Lovett joined a group of Peace Corps Mali volunteers and counterparts in Burkina Faso, where cosmetic-grade shea butter is sold to European cosmetics giant L’Occitane. The group came to observe shea processing facilities there, which are increasingly organized and professional. Processing centers featured clean warehouses, uniformed staff and high-quality containers for the butter – one also housed a nursery school, garden and laboratory. Several have begun producing organic along with conventional butter. One group, UGPPK in Leo, has received both organic and fair-trade certification.

“These places have come up in leaps and bounds in the past three years,” Lovett said.

Buyers are increasingly demanding such certifications, as seven West African shea producers discovered in March at the Natural Products Expo West in California, one of the cosmetic industry’s leading tradeshows. The Hub’s bamboo-walled West African pavilion in the “Hot New Products” section introduced exporters to wholesalers, distributors, brokers and traders, as well as the full retail spectrum: supermarkets, pharmacies, co-ops and ethnic shops, among others. Exporters from Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal made a total of 228 contacts, including such large retailers as Burt’s Bees, who were primarily interested in fair-trade certified bulk butter. Smaller retailers expressed more interest in pure unrefined butter for skin and lip care. Demand shows no signs of cooling: The newest U.S. trend in shea is a dietary supplement to soothe arthritis and joint discomfort.

Back in West Africa, governments are focusing more on shea as a player in economic growth. Shea is Burkina’s largest agricultural export after cotton, for instance, and both that country and Mali have developed national strategies for the crop, including research to develop better crops and extension services to share knowledge with farmers and grass-roots producers. Ghana recently formed a national steering committee on shea to help plan the growth and sustainability of the industry.

Meanwhile, Shinka continues to improve the industry in Nigeria, helping to organize an April workshop along with the Shea Butter Processors and Producers/Marketers Association, Niger State’s Ministry of Commerce and GTZ, the German development agency.

Vanessa Adams, the Trade Hub’s director of enterprise development, said the industry is maturing and developing different production levels, pulling new players like Shinka and creating jobs and investments across the region.

“Not only is the shea export business booming but there is increased interest in investing in industrial processing and cosmetic production in West Africa,” Adams said.

West Africa Trade Hub

Ghanaian agri-bank invests $2 million in cotton, mango, shea development

The management of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) will invest more than two million dollars to promote large-scale cultivation of cotton, mango and shea nuts in the three Northern Regions of Ghana.

Mr. Edward Boakye-Agyeman, Managing Director of the bank, said under the project, 500 farmers each from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions would be assisted with irrigation facilities, insecticides and other inputs to increase yields and improve upon their incomes.

He said this when he and Mr Paul Koranteng, the Board chairman, inspected a 21-acre Dolana Ayana Organic Mango Farm at the outskirts of Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton District on Wednesday.

Boakye-Agyeman said the Bank hoped to recover its investment after a six to eight-year period, after which it would transfer ownership of the farms to the farmers. He said last year the bank assisted 29,000 farmers in the three regions in the production, distribution and marketing of cotton to the Ghana Cotton Company and OLAM, a multi-national company.

My Joy

Northern Uganda's booming shea butter trade

The shea tree which produces the most shea butter, popularly known as Moo Yaa, has proved to be a major income earner for the people of Lira, where shea trees grow on their own in large numbers. The tree exclusively grows in the northern part of Uganda and is regarded as manna from God to alleviate poverty.

Peter Ajungo, the district agricultural officer, says over 26,000 farmers are directly or indirectly earning a living from trading in shea nuts. Some investors are manufacturing a range of industrial and quality consumable products like cooking oil, lotions, shaving cream, mosquito repellents and soap out it. They include the Northern Uganda Shear Processors Association (NUSPA); COVOL, an American company and Gurunanak, an Indian company.

"It is believed that in future the tree will produce modern medicine for both animals and people. Because of its high economic potential, we carried out research on how the tree could be domesticated and grown as a commercial crop," Ajungo said. He says the research is four years old, but has not yet yielded concrete results to guide the local people on whether they should start growing the shea nut tree as a commercial crop or not. Ajungo says on average, the tree takes 12 years to mature, making many local people reluctant to cultivate it. Those who already have the precious tree on their land are guarding it jealously because of the booming trade.

Petra Apili, an administrator for Northern Uganda Shear Processors Association says shea nut trade is booming and many local people, especially women, are benefiting from it. She says the company has a group of 2,000 farmers whom it has given the signed contracts with to supply at least two sacks of shea nuts at harvest time.

NUSPA buys on average 1,000 sacks of shea nuts every harvesting season. A sack of shea nut sells for 100,000 Uganda shillings ($57). When processed, a sack of nuts produces 20 litres of shea butter.

New Vision

Ghanaian women's shea butter cooperative receives processing assistance

The Buli Women's Shea Butter Processing Group in the Wa West District of Ghana has received 100 million cedi ($10,000) for the inauguration of a processing facility.

US ambassador to Ghana, Pamela Bridgewater, donated the money from the embassy's Self-Help Fund for the execution of the project, while the people provided labour, sand and stone and part of the transportation cost of the equipment for the centre.

It is equipped with a grinding mill, a shea nut crusher, shea paste kneader, roaster, diesel engine, installation materials and service tools, all provided by the US government. Bridgewater said application for funds for the project was among over 350 others and commended the Buli women's group for completing the work on schedule.

The demand for shea butter for the manufacture of body and hair products, she noted, was rising in the USA and urged the people to take interest in the growth and development of the shea nut industry to meet international demand and standards.

The Upper West regional minister, Ambrose Dery, advised the men not to take over control of the facility, saying the men in the region were noted for taking such actions to undermine the development of their spouses.

MyJoy

International demand for West African shea booms

Shea butter’s skin-soothing properties have made it a star in the global cosmetic market, where it shows up in everything from lip balm to diaper wipes to shaving cream. Recent bans on trans (chemically modified) fats in U.S. cities and leading fast-food restaurant chains have opened up new potential for shea, a natural vegetable fat found only in West and Central Africa. And as the demand for chocolate grows in prospering countries, shea is assuming greater importance as a cheaper, partial substitute for cocoa butter.

The price of cocoa butter has stayed high in recent years, making it more economical to mix in a percentage of shea butter or a comparable vegetable fat. And now the chocolate market itself is expanding as consumers in Asia, South America and Eastern Europe are better able to afford it.

Recent publicity about harmful effects of trans fats to the heart is fueling interest in shea as a potential substitute in more than just chocolate. Chicago and New York City no longer allow trans fats in their restaurants, and fast-food chains McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken Taco Bell and Starbucks have reduced or banned trans fats from their products. Shea could fill the gap, buyers say, another reason it is suddenly getting so much attention. But cautioned another international buyer, “Right now I don’t see the benefit because it is too expensive. But if that changed, it could be workable for mainstream consumption.”

Though most shea is exported as kernels, efforts are underway to process more into butter near the source to guard quality and save money on transport : It takes about three tonnes of nuts to make one tonne of butter.

In late 2006 Reuters news service reported a $20 million joint venture in Ghana between agricultural processing giant Archer Daniels Midland and Wilmar Holdings of Singapore. This year that collaboration, Ghana Specialty Fats, will begin processing up to 25,000 tonnes of shea nuts a year into butter. In Togo, Nioto (Nouvelle Industrie de Oléagineux du Togo) processes unrefined butter in partnership with IOI Loders Croklaan of the Netherlands, currently the largest buyer of shea butter in Africa.

The $4 billion natural cosmetic market continues to grow at an estimated 9% a year, with shea an increasingly vital ingredient. Bath & Body Works, L’Occitane and the Body Shop, owned by cosmetic giant L’Oreal, all have shea butter “product lines” of lotions, balms and scrubs. This market prizes premium-quality butter, including organic and handcrafted, which are said to better preserve shea’s moisturizing and regenerative qualities.

“The industry is booming," said Vanessa Adams, export business development director of West Africa Trade Hub. "Some large buyers still buy tens of thousands of tonnes of shea kernels. But more key international players are buying processed shea butter directly from Africa, and some are starting to process here. This is where we wanted to be.”

Burkinabé women benefit from beauty industry's interest in shea butter

Judith Carney and Marlene Elias of the University of California-Los Angeles' Globalization Research Center have looked at how despite the upheavals it is causing many farmers all over the world, globalization is also creating new opportunities for some groups of people previously largely marginalized from the world economy.

An example is how rural women in Burkina Faso and up-market purchasers of cosmetics in the West who had nothing to do with each other are now being linked in an unusual way:

Rural women have been gathering and processing karité (shea butter) in West Africa since at least the mid-fourteenth century. Muslim scholars reported on the value of shea in the regional economy, drawing attention to its use as a moisturizer, ointment, cooking and lamp oil, and for making soap. The collection and processing of shea nuts is central to women's household responsibilities. The nut, which contains 50% fat, remains an essential source of nutrition for families in West Africa.

The butter comes from the nut of the shea nut tree (butyrospermum parkii), found solely in the West African savanna. Women collect the nuts and turn them into butter to help their bodies endure the harsh, dry Sahelian climate. In recent years the benefits of shea have become more widely known. It now forms a crucial ingredient of the "natural products" cosmetics marketed by brands such as The Body Shop. The growing demand for shea butter in the West is evident in Burkina Faso, where it now ranks third in exports.

The marathon task of making shea butter is exclusively a female activity. The process involves intensive physical labor as well as considerable amounts of water and firewood during the rainy season when women are already burdened with agricultural tasks. Preparation takes several days and stages: After collection, the nuts are boiled,sun-dried and shelled by hand. They are crushed, roasted, and pounded in a mortar with a pestle.

The addition of water creates a paste, which requires kneading. Two to three women at a time reach into the thick shea batter to beat the paste so the caramel-colored foam floats to the surface. This foam is transferred to a bucket of water, where subsequent washings eliminate unwanted residues. The cleansing process is repeated as many as four times and yields progressively whiter foam, which is then boiled for many hours. The top layer is skimmed and upon cooling becomes the white shea butter so desired in international markets.

NGOs and UN affiliates have stepped in to help Burkina Faso's female producers improve their economic returns from shea butter by organizing them into cooperatives to strengthen their access rights to the nuts, improve the economic returns from their labor and yet protect the trees from over-exploitation.