Shea butter and its derivatives are growing with their attendant health benefits. Its extensive use in cosmetics, health products, confectionery and chocolate industry is assuming a new dimension with increasing demand in Europe and the United States. Its sustainable production is, however, challenged by aging trees and processing capabilities, prompting the Global Shea Alliance and the Federal Government to collaborate to step up its cultivation and processing, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
The shea butter sector has seen remarkable growth in the past 10 years. Shea trees, according to experts, are a source of vegetable oil used in many food products.
In 2012, for instance, about 350,000 metric tonnes (MT) of kernels were exported from Africa, with a market value of $120 million, while demand for West African shea butter rose by 1,200 per cent over the last decade.
The Global Shea Alliance (GSA), established in 2011 to help build a more competitive, sustainable, and profitable shea industry, said the demand for product made in West Africa has doubled in the past 10 years. This is because it is an important ingredient in food and cosmetic products worldwide.
Both its kernels and the butter are used in health products and in the confectionery and chocolate industry globally.
Experts said West Africa can process at least, half of its exported crop into butter. Of the total shea butter exports from Africa, about 90 per cent goes into food products and the rest is used in the cosmetic sector.
Nigeria is one of the biggest producers in Africa. It is also an exporter of shea nut in West Africa.
While 80 per cent of traded shea was exported as a raw commodity; the sad part was that the balance is processed in Africa and exported as shea butter.
Experts believed that Nigeria has a large untapped shea butter market worth $2 billion yearly.
Niger State Commodity and Export Promotion Agency Director-General, Mohammed Kontagora, for instance, said Nigeria, which accounts for 57 per cent of the global shea with a value of $3.8 billion, could address its challenge of poverty through shea butter export. Mohammed Kontagora is a GSA member.
By developing large-scale production of shea butter in Nigeria, Kontagora said the country would be on the right path to diversifying the economy through strategic focus on the commodity’s export business.
“Nigeria stands a better chance of improving its economy through the processing and sale of shea butter. The current global shea value stands at more than $3.8 billion and Nigeria is said to contribute about 57 per cent of the global shea value, that is about $2 billion additional revenue,”he said.
To Kontagora, one way to improve rural economies of communities is to take comparative advantage in Shea butter production by promoting shea butter as food and cosmetic product.
While Kontagora said more than 50,000 tonnes of the product could be exported from the country yearly, he lamented that the lack of adequate statistics on shea butter production is one of the factors militating against its development in Nigeria.
He said the country loses most of the financial benefits that should come to the country as a result of the smuggling of the produce, adding that about $2.166 billion, (N335.73 billion) revenue in excise duties is lost yearly by the Federal Government to illegal export of shea butter.
To address this, a shea conference was organised by the GSA, National Shea Products Association of Nigeria (NASPAN) in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, last month in Abuja.
The aim was to bring together all stakeholders in production and export of Shea butter, to discuss issues related to its sustainability.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, called on stakeholders to ensure greater diversification of shea products, so that producing countries can draw maximally from its benefits, which include increased job creation and foreign exchange earnings which will translate to enhanced well-being of the citizenry.
Hajia Aisha pointed out that the industry has served as means of livelihood to about 400 million people, especially women and youths, across producing and processing countries. Shea export volume from producing countries, especially Africa, she said, has grown from over 350,000 metric tonnes (MT) per year, which amounts to about 600 per cent increase compared to what it was 20 years ago. This, she said, has resulted in the annual income of over $200million for the Shea producing countries.
Acceptance of shea products in the United States (US) and Europe as very important ingredients and raw materials for food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, according to her, underlined the huge economic potential of the industry.
She, therefore, urged stakeholders to consider measures that will ensure that their shea products meet safety and quality requirements of the international market. Hajia Aisha advised them to seize the opportunity provided by the conference to form a common ground on the best approach to ensuring the development of the sector.
NASPAN President, Mr. Jibril Bokani, said Nigeria produces 57 per cent of the world output of shea, adding that this will, in turn, create jobs, wealth and opportunities.
He said the challenges facing the sub-sector were enormous, calling on the Federal Government to assist the association to compete favourably at the international world.
“Some of the challenges are inconsistency in the quality, there is no uniformity and Nigeria is vast. Niger State is doing its best in shea. We need other collaborations from shea producing states. Without uniformity in quality across board, there will be serious challenges. We want all shea producing states to be involved. We have only three to four states in the country that are serious with shea production.
”We are pushing on the other states to come on board. With the percentage of shea produced in the country, this means, we can equally determine the price if we are really serious. There has been support from the Federal Government, but there is need for more,” he said.
Bokani said in the next few years, he expects to see a refined shea butter in the country, adding that some companies have indicated interest. ”We should not be exporting the nuts, but the butter and other potential from the nuts. This will help us grow faster and generate income to our economy.”
Earlier, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Managing Director, Mr Aliyu Abdulh-Ammed, said Nigeria was losing about 70 per cent value of shea nuts through the collection process, and called for training on that.
“The quality of shea nut itself is collected by women that is why we lose 60 to 70 per cent of the value. These women do not know how to collect it well, store it well, how to create grade one, two and three stages,”he said.
To him, if the primary processing is not done well, it will affect the quality of oil or butter produced downstream. ”Our primary intervention here is on how we can organise these women to train them down and create a business module whereby they will collect and earn more from the beginning.
“It is left for the association, value chain actors to collaborate with NIRSAL. We are going to invite them and sit with them. We will do value chain analysis by breaking down the value chain of Shea into its component parts and create business module around each component and that will allow finances into it, “he said.
Abdulhammed said the government had put policies in place, noting that it was now left for the actors in the sub-sector to take advantage of the policies on ground.
The Niger State Governor, Alhaji AbubakarSanni Bello who was represented by the deputy Governor of the State, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso,said his government is collaborating with development partners to empower its people in line with Federal Government’s policy to encourage business linkages between Nigeria Shea industry stakeholders and international buyers of the products.
