Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

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

term concern if local consumption of the butter were the only outlet for shea.

However, the international market provides a second outlet, moderating the

impact of any changes in local demand. Finally, in the fifth case, shea butter

already has a number of substitutes (though all derived from cultivated crops

rather than manufactured products) but because it also has multiple uses at

both local and particularly international level—and new uses continue to be

identified—this potential threat has been counteracted.

It seems then that the long and relatively stable history of moderate income

generation from shea is likely to continue for years to come. Most women in the

study area, unlike those in less accessible communities or in the drier Sahelian

countries, have a choice of income-generating activities. It is unlikely that they

would seek a greater involvement in shea kernels and/or butter trade unless it

became much more advantageous (in terms of financial returns and the amount

of labour invested) than the available alternatives. At present, therefore, there

is no need for any development interventions directed specifically at the local

shea sector. Any scaling up of activities is likely to be achieved through individual

initiatives. This state of affairs is illustrated by a group of women in the town of

Bassila, who have obtained a small business development grant to produce butter

for sale to a hairdressing salon in Cotonou. To facilitate this kind of initiative,

the usual development recommendations apply: better market information,

easier access to formal credit for women and capacity building in organisational,

administrative and financial management.

Given the current abundance of the resource internationally there is little

justification to invest in increased production of shea. In the longer term,

should demand increase beyond supply, there would be an interest in more

research into how best to integrate shea with other crops, reducing the age to

maturity and improving the year-to-year consistency of yields. Initially, however,

international efforts should focus on improving the economic contribution of

shea by promoting quality at all production and processing stages, improving

market information systems, developing appropriate and cost-effective

extraction technologies and diversifying the product (and packaging) range at

the national and international levels (FAO 1998; Savadogo et al. 1998).

CONCLUSION

Shea is a widely available resource in the West African savanna zone. No inputs

other than labour are needed to harvest and process it and it fits in well with

the local agricultural landscape and range of income-earning activities. While

official figures can be extremely misleading, it appears that the market has

been relatively stable over many generations, largely because the product

can be either consumed locally or traded into the international market, where

its multiple uses have protected it from the threat of substitution. Moreover,

shea is an extremely egalitarian product collected by nearly all women in the

area and with little evidence of particularly uneven appropriation of benefits

along the marketing chain. No particular policy interventions are needed to

ensure that the trade continues its history of providing a vital livelihood option

for local women, the importance of which fluctuates from year to year but

remains relatively stable over the longer term. Development interventions

06SHEA.P65 110 22/12/2004, 11:04