92 The contribution of shea butter (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertner) to local livelihoods in Benintraded in the fourteenth century (Busson 1965, cited in Hall et al. 1996) and
was mentioned frequently in the writings of early European travellers in West
Africa (Park 1799; Clapperton 1829; Caillié 1830). Export of what was then
known as Butyrospermum parkii, to supply European production of margarine
and candles, began well before World War I. Figures for the current European
import market are highly unreliable but a conservative estimate suggests it is
worth US$13 million per year (Fintrac 1999). The main producers are the
Sahelian countries, shea being the third most important export crop in Burkina
Faso, for instance. Most of the trade (and all the data presented in this chapter)
concerns the more common subspecies paradoxa, which occurs in a wide belt
from Senegal to the Central African Republic (Hall et al. 1996). The liquid fat
produced from the second subspecies nilotica hardly features on the export market,
possibly because of the tree’s location in the relatively unstable areas of southern
Sudan and Ethiopia, Uganda and north-east Zaire (Hall et al. 1996).
Processing into butter is predominantly carried out in the importing country.
Much of it is used as a cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) in the chocolate industry,
often being mixed in various proportions with fats derived from other non-timber
forest products (NTFPs) such as palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and illipe (Shorea
macrophylla (Vriese) Ashton). Shea is considered to be the best of the CBEs and is
particularly useful in chocolate manufacture as it raises the melting point, giving
increased shine and hardness at room temperature (Boffa 1999). While the
chocolate and confectionery industry uses the butter (stearin) fraction of shea
butter, its oil (olein) fraction is also used in margarines and baking.
In recent years, the food industry market has been supplemented by a small
but dynamic market emerging for use of shea butter in ‘natural’ cosmetic products.
Its high triglyceride content gives it a rich consistency which is valuable for skin
creams, shampoos and other cosmetic products because of its hydrating, protecting
and softening properties.
At the same time as being an important traded crop, shea plays an integral
role in rural people’s subsistence. In most of the southern Sahel and Sudan zones
in Africa, shea butter is the most affordable and extensively used edible fat (Boffa
1999). In non-pastoral areas it is sometimes the only source of fat for rural
populations (Hyman 1991). The fruit flesh (a thin but delicious layer around the
nut) provides an important snack during the early agricultural or ‘lean’ period,
when stocks from the previous harvest are low but energy needs are high (Boffa
1999). Shea butter has numerous traditional medicinal applications. Rancid butter
is traditionally used to make soap, the by-product of butter-making is used to
waterproof earthen hut walls (Schreckenberg 1996), and the wood burns well and
makes good charcoal. As a source of income, all shea-related activities are entirely
in the women’s domain.Context of the study
The data were collected as part of a Ph.D. study (Schreckenberg 1996) to
investigate supply and demand of NTFPs in the Bassila region of Benin.
Continuous fieldwork was carried out from September 1992 to September 1993,
focusing on three case study villages. The supply of NTFPs was investigated through
fortnightly phenological observations on 193 trees representing 11 species,06SHEA.P65 92 22/12/2004, 11:04