Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

100 The contribution of shea butter (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertner) to local livelihoods in Benin

of butter. Butter ‘pats’ are always sold for CFA25, but their weight varies from

110 g just before the harvest to 266 g a few months later. Profits are low

because the women’s own stocks of kernels rarely last more than a few months

and none have sufficient capital to lay aside a large stock when the price is

low at harvest time. Instead they buy the kernels they need each week and

are often obliged to buy them on credit, repaying with the proceeds of the

butter sale. However, because they often sell their products on credit, they

can easily fall into a credit trap and lose their capital. Any factor that disrupts

this earning and spending cycle, such as illness, pregnancy or unexpected

expenditure, can lead to impoverishment.

Direct consumption of shea butter

In addition to income from the sale of shea kernels and/or butter, many families

also benefit from the consumption of shea butter. Farther north in Benin,

beyond the natural range of oil palms, shea butter is the most important

source of edible oil (Agbahungba and Depommier 1989). It plays a particularly

important nutritional role as a source of fat in children’s diets (Crélerot 1995,

cited in Boffa 1999). In the Bassila area, where both shea trees and oil palms

grow, the various ethnic groups are divided in their use of these two vegetable

fats. Though generally cheaper, shea butter is the main cooking fat only for

the Otamari and the Peulh. The Logba and the Anii prefer to use palm oil or, if

available, groundnut oil. The Otamari women in Diepani PK8 process around 3

kg of kernels per week, producing about 1 kg of butter, which would cost them

CFA100 to CFA225 (US$0.36–0.8) on the market, depending on the season. This

is very close to the 150 g of butter used each day by a Malian family of seven

(Fleury 1981) and converts into an annual per capita consumption of about

10.3 kg. The average value of annual household consumption of shea butter

for the three settled ethnic groups in the study area is shown in Table 1.

Processing industry

Harvesting and drying the kernels

As in the rest of West Africa (Boffa 1999), in the case study area it is women

and children who collect shea nuts. As nuts in fields are reserved for the

female relatives of the farmer, women start collecting in bush areas where

competition from other women is greater. Fruit ripen and fall from April until

August and women begin to collect almost immediately, investing as much

time as possible in the early part of the agricultural season (April–June), when

they are not yet preoccupied with weeding and harvesting. Most women collect

nuts on their way to and from the fields and, if time allows, will also undertake

special half-day collecting expeditions to remoter areas with a friend or co-

wife. Headloads of up to 47 kg were recorded.

Once collected, fruits are prepared for sale or storage. This requires

inactivation of the lipase enzymes, which increase the concentration of free

fatty acids and thereby reduce the butter quality. Two methods are used. The

Otamari roast the nuts in a tall oven for 12 hours to 24 hours, and then store

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