THE shea industry is potentially a viable sector that could help eradicate poverty and improve on the quality of life of the people of northern Ghana.
However, over the years, little has been done by stakeholders in terms of policy, research and financial support to boost the sector.
It is estimated that Ghana produces 130,000 tonnes of shea nuts annually out of which 70,000 tonnes are used locally and 60,000 metric tonnes exported.
Additionally, about 45,000 tonnes are reported to be exported as raw nuts and 150,000 tonnes as butter.
The challenges that have bedevilled the sector over the years include low and fluctuating pricing, decades of neglect by policy makers, particularly successive governments, widespread suspicion and mistrust among actors in the system and inadequate information on the shea industry.
The present state of the industry shows clearly a policy and an institutional shortfall in the management of the sector.
There seems to be a consensus among stakeholders in the industry that shea requires a focussed institutional attention to grow on a sustainable basis.
Some stakeholders have on several platforms suggested the formation of a shea board to bring about the needed sustainability.
The Ghana Trade and Livelihoods Coalition (GTLC), however, believes the formation of a shea board would require a review of existing regulation on shea, especially in ensuring increased research, guaranteed pricing and marketing.
A research conducted by the GTLC showed that there were serious challenges in research for improved varieties, inconsistent policy for the sector, difficulties of picking and processing by largely women’s groups and inadequate shea value chain.
It is worthy to note that attention to the development of the plant and all other activities to do with picking and adding value has not been enough and well directed to unveil the potentials of the crop.
A comprehensive policy that provides consistency for the development of the shea industry has been woefully inadequate.
There are indications that in the near future, the shea may not be available in commercial quantities.
A study has revealed that seven out of 10 baskets of charcoal come from the shea tree and another report by Action Aid Ghana shows that large tract of land in the Yendi Municipality on which shea trees abound were being cleared for the development of Jatropha plantations.
It has been observed that the incentive to protect shea trees by communities and persons involved in picking is undermined by low prices for shea nuts, little market opportunities for the nuts and butter as well as issues of ownership of the tree.
Persons and communities therefore exploit the tree for the economic benefits that it immediately provides without planned replacement. Replacement of old low yielding trees is largely non-existent.
It is important to note that gestation period of the tree is known to be between 25 and 30 years. Research efforts since the early 1980’s to reduce the gestation period seemed not to be yielding results.
If the shea tree should be attractive to local investors for the development of plantations, then better resources may have to be directed into research to produce shea varieties that are high yielding.
Shea trees are indigenous to Africa and grow wild throughout the vast West African Savannah Zone, stretching from Cameroon to Senegal and encompassing Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Shea trees may also be found further east in Uganda and Sudan.
Resistant to plantation cultivation, the shea tree thrives in the Savannah’s ever receding forests and on farms, where the trees are left to grow whenever land is cleared or left to fallow. Shea nuts are crushed to produce a thick yellow cream known as shea butter. An estimated 9.4 million shea trees presently thrive in Ghana, however between 70 and 80 per cent of the trees are considered old with declining yields.
It is significant to note that the timeliness of picking nuts is as important as handling, drying and then parboiling. The nuts could lose some value when any of these stages is not well done.
The practice for most of the pickers is to pick and gather at a location far from home. Stocks are gradually transported by head load for treatment and drying. The inaccessibility of most of the locations by vehicles as a result of bad roads, especially during the rainy season, compounds this situation.
Many nuts may begin to germinate or completely lost by the time they are transported. Therefore with the existing stock of trees, methods of collection, treatment and drying, the picker plays a central and critical role.
During a recent shea stakeholders meeting in Tamale, the Co-ordinator of the GTLC, Mr Ibrahim Akalbila, stressed the need for co-ordination of efforts in research, plantation development, maintenance of existing trees, to provide sustainable access and supply of shea nuts for domestic use and for export.
He also stressed the need for the setting up of a body with the mandate to co-ordinate those efforts to harness the potential of the tree, adding that that body must be established by government.
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