$10bn shea market creates opportunity for Nigerian women

Nigerian women, who make up 90 percent of shea butter processors in the country, can tap into the $10 billion global shea market to earn foreign exchange to improve their livelihoods.

“The business of shea is for women, they are the pickers of the crop from the forest because it grows in the wild and they are more involved in processing,” said Isaac Adegun, deputy chief of party, NEXTT Project at a recent shea conference in Lagos.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Nigeria is the world largest producer with about350, 000MT per annum.

Shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry savannah belt of the country and other West Africa nations.

Wunmi  Asholake, , director of sustainability, Global  Shea Alliance, said  “It is a female dominated industry, because without the women shea collectors and without them we really at risk of having the industry go down along the line.”

“It is time we sure that the women that really form the foundation of the industry are receiving fair reward and be sure that we are protecting our natural resources to ensure that 20 and 30 years  down the line , we still have a shea industry,” said Asholake.

She noted that women need to be trained and educated on proper handling of shea butter, stating that will it they will benefit the full potential in the industry.

Nigeria literarily seats on a shea butter goldmine as the crop, which is grown in the wild in 20 of Nigeria’s 36 states, with Niger, Kwara and Oyo states having the largest production area, according to Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR).

Shea butter is considered a healing balm for all age groups as it is used for the treatment of skin problems such as wrinkles, Eczema, itching, and insect bites, among others.

Nigeria is world’s largest producer but Ghana is the largest exporter in Africa, although most of the country’s exports are from Nigeria.

“The opportunity to create wealth in the shea industry is enormous in Nigeria. The conversion of 100,000 metric tonnes of shea nuts into about 48,000 metric tonnes of shea butter for export can generate about $72 million and economically sustain about 600,000 rural women,” said Jbril Bokani, national Shea Producers Association of Nigeria (NASPAN).

“This shows that there exists a clear opportunity for Nigeria to create to wealth and employment to be driven by value addition and export of shea butter and shea cake,” Bokani said.

Experts say that about 85 percent traded shea goes to the confectionery industry most as CBE cocoa butter substitute and other confectionary products and 15 percent goes to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

One of the major challenged identified as limiting the potentials is limited processing plants. Most of the processing are still done manually.

“Processing in Nigeria is still at elementary stage and there is need for automation and mechanisation of processing to fully tap the potential of the crop,” Adegun said

“We are assisting processors and producers to access the international market so that the country can take advantage of the global shea market,” he added.

 

JOSEPHINE OKOJIE