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Nigeria YetTa Tap Into Shea Wealth, Resources By OIukayade Oyeleye, just back from Accra
OUNTRIES with less endowment of shea trees have announced that they earn millions of dollars annually from shea burter, the commodity obtained from the shea trees growing in the wild in the savan nah belt across Africa. While shea butter was said to be Burkina Faso's third most important export commodity, Ghana said it produces about 45,000 metric annually. But an expert on shea has said Nigeria is yet to organise its shea sub-sector and so could not put exact figures on its proceeds. These were disclosed at the Global Shea conference at La Palm Hotel, Accra, Ghana, the country with trade in shea amounting to $20 million, according to the vice president, John Mahama, during the opening sess ion on Wednesday. The va lu e, Mahama said, did not take into consideration the totality of transactions involved along the entire shea value chain. But Mr. Thompson Ogunsanmi, agribusiness field officer for the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) working in Niger State, lamented that, although the prospects of shea in Nigeria remains incomparable with any other country in Africa, the country is yet to harness it. He said he was not ready to comment on the actual potential. in quantitative terms because the available official figures on shea in Nigeria are in conflict with what he has found out during his fie ld work. Ogunsanmi told The Guardian that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) facilitated the preparation of a report towards the estabhshment of shea programme only recently, and has just submitted it to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture few days ago. Mr. John Mason, CEO of Nature Conservation Reserve Centre, operating in Gliana, warned that shea and shea climate issues "are not on the radar of international climate advocates and these have to be addressed urgently. He was of the view that, in shea production, there has to be a proper definition of what a forest is, in order to enable shea promoters take advantage of opportun iti es emanating from climate activism. Although countries in West, Central and East Africa have been recording remarkable revenues from shea, this might change in the future. Giving the warning, Mr. Donald Teitelbaum, the American Ambassador to Ghana, said a substantial propo!tion of shea fruits simply rot in the ground and African producers should fearn to add values wherever they can during processing. He also advised stakeholders not to concentrate only on export but also on efficiency and quality. No less than 20 countries from West to
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East Africa attended the conference, in wh ich issues of trade, quality, environment, export,livelihoods, policies and research were discussed. South Sudan, an emerging country was represented as well as Uganda, among other countries. Assorted products of shea butter were on display at the exhibition grounds and business people had tfle opportunities of interacting. Dr. Peter Lovert of USAID West African Trade Hub (WATH), based in Accra, observed that shea is found in about three million square kilometres across the SubSaharan Africa, covering 20 countries within the savannah zone. About 10 tons of biomass of shea is found per hectare of land , according to him. Eight of the countries, he said, export between 250,000 and 350,000 tonns of dry shea kernel per annum, and nine tons of fresh nuts as well as three tons of dry kernel and a ton of butter, and the businesses employ an estimated four million women who are
confectioner:ies. . involved in harvesting, processing and exIndications from these and some other report_ , lated publications that addressed the nuDr. Lovett observed the need for the tritiona l and health benefits of shea, point global shea alliance to talk about the stanthe way to the enormity of economic and dard issues in shea industry and what the health-improving resources in Nigreia, traders are going to do to add va lues to the waiting to .be tapped. products. He lamented that the producMr. Ogunsanmi ofGIZ underscored the tion to market ends of shea value chaiins pre-eminence of Nigeria in the shea busiare disconnected and there has been limited transparency. He looked at what he de;: , Ress, saying the concentration of shea scribed as paradox in the shea industry, ' treesJll,Niger State alone far outstrips what is found in two countries combined saying the prices of shea per ton have been among the other nations promoting shea erratic, fluctuating between $250 and products. Yet, these countries receive more $800. He observed that a typical 100prominence and publicity in the global gramme bar of m'ilk chocorate contains shea trade than Nigeria. five per cent non-cocoa fat and 20 per cent Efforts to improve on the situation apof these fats are stearin. pears underway as Mohammed Ubale, Robert Simmons from LMC, Oxford , UK, head of commodity development unit of a disclosed that about 95 per cent of exnewly created commodity and export ported shea is used in the production of cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs), used as re- agency in Niger State, informed The Guardian that his state has commenced efplacements for cocoa butter in chocolate. forts towards bringing shea business to Apart from the seemingly popular use of focus. To this end,.he said, a shea uuttervilshea butter as consmetics, Simmons exlage is about to be commissioned by the plained that shea butter has a number of state governor next week near Zungeru. features that make ita good alternative to This, fie said, would serve as a one-stop cocoa butter in he manufacture of chocoshop for quality issues in shea butter prolate. He said CBEs reduce costs as they are cess ing in the state, creating emp loyment cheaper than cocoa butter, they improve and revenue outlets for stakeholders a long functionality, especially changes in meltthe various segments of the shea value ing point and hardness, of cho<olates and chain. demands for CBEs depend on chocolate
·Participants visiting booths displaying various shea products during the Global Shea Conference at La Palm Beach Hotel, Accra Ghana, last week PHOTO: OLUKAYODE OYELEYE
Women~In Agrie Hold Eleetion,Applaud Mandela's Wife By Oeba OIadimejl
NCOMIUMS have been showered on Mrs. Graca Machel Mandela, co-founder of African Women In Agriculture. Mrs. Yemisi Iranloye, the executive director of Ekha Agro, Ibafo, Ogun State,.elected as the president of the Nigerian chapter of the aSSOCiation, who praised Mrs. Mandela, recalled that she had been in the struggle for the past 35 years. Iranloye, during the election, held recently, spoke after her choice as preSident was announced. She disclosed that the African Women in Agriculture was set up by Mrs. Graca Machel Mandela, who, "in preparing for her retirement from the public involvement,.wanted totransmit her vast knowledge to a younger generation of women, to change the same old challenges such as l acl~ of land, ownership,lack of a voice and visibility in the different business sectors." Agroup of women, including Graca Machel, Mamphela Ram'~·~-·pele, Getrude Mongela, and other prominent African women, she said, met recently in So uth Africa and decided to 'Create an avenue for women in the continent to meet and discuss issues that affect agriculture. "We are creating
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an environment for African women to network and change their status, be heard and be visible." She said that the focus of her organisation was to encourage women to be the agents of change for food security and economic sustainabil ity. The slogan for this group is: "Nothing about us.without us" According to her the programme has the following direc-
tions: "How to get women in decision making positions in government and private sector. To identify what are the major ob- . stacles, which hinder women to grow in their businesses; to have access to resources such as infor-
mation that will support in the agric sector; identity the best opportunity by picking up the middle level to the upscale level, without neglecting the millions of women and focus ing on
changing the perceptions and paradigm shift. These must be the change agents for the millions of other women." "Therefore this initiative is to: identify people in the different fields in Africa, grow this group, establish a network, priorities, advocate and establish initiatives to build African institutions." Iranloye said that they shou ld "be able to speak to power and be involved in the decision making
for all poliCies, defining priorities according to needs and how to access the products of R&D to grow the business." Their work wou ld also involve "speaking to financial and development institutions, to protect interest of women, and to global agencies such as Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) who have a keen interest to change agriculture and empower women in agriculture," she said. ,
' Nige'tia,IlT~ Wbfla-BarufC6lliloorateT6 EfioAflafoxins In Foods
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' PROGRAMME targeted at redUcing afla- . ence their productivity. : toxin contamination in foods is being In NigeJia, reso.urce"poor maize farmers face . . . onsideredfor implementation in four rejection from the premium food market due ~tates; namely: Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Cro$s to aflatOXin COntaminatiGn;'The'lnternational River and Lagos_ The programme, sponsored Institute OfTropica.1 Agriculture (IItA), based .by the World Bank, and considered as part of in Ibadan,has showcased a panacea against the Commercial Agriculture Developmef\t Pro- aflatoxins_ ' gram (CADP), includes drawinga road map to The collaborarion amongcNigeria, llTA, and the W9r1t1 Bank is expectet:l to make available tacJde aflatoxins. Dr,Amin Babandi; national cdordinat9rof to farmers a biocdntrol pro,duct called CADP, described it as "a majorStepby the govaflasafetMthat would stop the aflatoxin menernment towards enSUring food safery and ace_ fOdd security." . "this is good news to farmers because they now havea solutio.n to the problem," says Produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus, f1flatoxiils are descrribed as fungal contaroiRa,najit na..ndyojladhyay. an llTA's pathologist. ~ants that hU.r t trade and people's health, with "Iffarmers applyallilsafeJM ; they can sell their stiIdies polr,lting to them as t\:ie causeofUver • maizeatprenuumprices and) abo\r¢all, it cancer. [n some cases, such as in Kenya, allawould g\1arantee the safety or home-grown YOlnIi.<ontaminated maize cons\UIled resulted food and health of consumers," he added. ,\Ii. seyeral-deaths_ Poultry and fish are panlcIn on-farm research trials in Kaduna-state Ula~Iy:wJ.netable to aaatoJdns Which .i nati' d\lring~OO':l and 2010, fa ers who treated ..
their fields with aflasafe™were a)jl~ to reduce t\le levels of aflatoxin contamination by about 80 to 90 perCent. The efficacy of aflasafe'" .
eame.a tfie product a provisional registration from NAFDAC Stakeholders, including fanners at the meeting in Ibadan, discussed.efforts to redui:e aflatoidn spread_ They unanimously said that a collective action waS necessary to tackle atlatoxins, with Nestle conSIdering slipporting farmers with training on pre' anq post-harvest handling of tniilze, including storage. . LUcas Akapa, senior operations dHker, World Bank, said tlJe meetlhg was a success as partners agreed ~to develop a holis.tic strategy to help Nigeria fight aflatoxins." , "Attbe end, we hope to-have aroild map which will be driven by Nigerians with the purpose of ending the menace ofoaflatoxins, enhanc,ing farmers' income, and guarantee' --i.n&.,Jood safetyt l)e said. . , . , .