Development implications of the shea industry as a lead cash crop for Northern Ghana: Case studies in bole, Wa-West and Bongo Districts.

The Shea Industry is as old in Ghana as the nation-state of Ghana with immense intergenerational development implications. Almost anyone brought up in rural Northern Ghana has come into contact with the shea and its products. The shea industry is currently dominated by women and children who pick and process shea into nuts for sale directly, or as butter on a small scale. The industry is currently assuming a large scale commercial status with the advent of large scale shea (nut and butter) buyers and exporters who have in recent years discovered the high value of shea on the international market and are cashing-in on it as quickly as possible. This study investigated the opportunities for developing the shea tree as a cultivar; appraise the opportunities and potentials for developing the shea as an export cash crop; assess the benefits Northern Ghana stands to derive if the shea industry is developed, and to consider the role of government in developing the shea industry. The methodology adopted was the case study approach, making use of one district each from the three regions of the North out of a total of thirty-eight (38) districts, in view of possibilities of varying geological (physical, biological, environmental, ecological, and geographical) and social differences in the three regions in question. Sampled districts were Bole in the Northern Region, Wa-West in the Upper West Region and Bongo in the Upper East Regions. One shea community was purposively sampled in each district on the basis of its pronounced involvement in the collection, processing and marketing of shea products. The study found that applied research has been able to establish a shea cultivar that can grow, mature and fruit within seven (7) years through both vegetative propagation and upper culture, which could further be developed to improve upon the maturation duration of the shea plant. The study also identified the income and employment potential in shea products against the background of increasing international demand for shea nuts and butter. Consequently the shea industry was identified as one of the alternative livelihoods for the people of Northern Ghana. The study therefore recommends public education on the protection and cultivation of shea trees with the following state agencies collaborating and facilitating the survival of both wild and cultivated shea trees: Forestry Commission (FC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and National Fire Service). In addition, the study recommends the setting up of a regulatory framework for the shea industry (a law similar to that which regulates cocoa) to ensure sanity in the shea industry and finally, the setting up of shea cooperative to coordinate local shea business from community to national levels. Government intervention in the shea industry is being sought to first of all, avert the exploitation of rural women and their households, and secondly to support the growth of the industry through promotional and regulatory frameworks that would both enable rural people protect wild shea trees and cultivate more, and at the same time, forestall the current exploitation going on in the industry.

Source: KNUST