Lango women find wealth in shea tree

Process. A woman spreads shea fruit in the sun in Otuke District on May 10. PHOTO BY PAUL TAJUBA

What you need to know:

  • Benefits. UNDP estimates that three million African women work directly or indirectly with shea butter. The top shea nut-producing countries are Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Togo.
  • Huge profits. According to The New York Times, a survey conducted in a village in Burkina Faso by USAID in 2010 found that for every $1,000 of shea nuts sold, an additional $1,580 in economic activities, such as reinvesting the money in other trades, was generated in the village.
  • Shea butter exports from West Africa garner between $90 million and $200 million a year, according to the newspaper.

Otuke. Women put on colourful traditional Africa gowns as they make their way to Olilim Trading Centre in Otuke District.
Dressed in yellow business outfits, they gather at a market stall constructed on the dusty Kotido-Lira road for a common goal; to buy shea butter.

Shea butter, which comes from shea nut, can be consumed at home or sold. It is also used in cosmetics as a lotion or moisturiser. The ripe fruits of the shea tree are harvested between April and August each year.
During this period, members of Moo Yao Women’s Group in Olilim Sub-county often go to the forests to harvest shea fruits. They roast and crush the nuts inside to extract the precious butter, which is boiled, sorted, packaged and sold at the local markets or exported. Moo Yao is a Luo word for shea butter.

“We started this group in 2006 and that time, we were only dealing in shea butter. We registered with the sub-county authorities as an organisation and later, CARE International [an NGO] started training us on how to add value to shea butter,” says Ms Sarah Ejang, the group secretary.

Benefits
Currently, the group makes about 50 lotion tubes in a day and each lotion goes for between Shs10,000 and Shs15,000. The group also makes bathing soap, edible oil and jelly from the butter.
“With our sweat, we have been able to educate our children and build permanent houses,” Ms Ejang says. “We feel blessed because we are a much organised group of women who have come together to solve our problems,” she adds.
The sub-county chairperson, Mr Francis Otyama, says the endangered tree species has allowed many women in the district to boost their income and improve the health of their families.

“In Otuke, we have more than 20 organised women groups currently adding value to shea butter and they have made us, as leaders of Otuke, very proud,” says Mr Bosco Odongo, the district chairperson. The government, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has established two market information centres in Otuke and Agago districts, majorly to give information on marketing shea nut.
However, bad practices such as cutting down of shea trees for charcoal and lighting bush fires during the hunt for wild animals, have resulted in the loss of tree belts and low yields in the region.

Protection efforts
The Resident District Commissioner, Mr John Wafula, says they are working hard to protect the shea tree.
“We have arrested people and prosecuted them in the courts of law,” he says.

In June, Mr Wafula requested the government for police reinforcement in the district to save the shea tree from extinction.
However, the minister of Water and Environment, Mr Sam Cheptoris, said it is the responsibility of local governments to protect the environment.
“If this (shea) tree is depleted, is it the minister of Water and Environment, who suffers? Do I live here?” he said at the launch of the shea nut market information centre.