Shea butter is a natural vitamin A cream to all care product. Grade A, unrefined, no addictive, is an off white or Ivory coloured fat extracted from- the nut, raw shea butter is the most high quality. Nigeria supplies shea nut of grade A quality. It can be used for anything from medicine, skin cream to soap. It is cleaned and processed in a smoke free area. Nigeria exports about 50,000 tons of shea butter and allied derivatives valued at about $3.8 billion every year. The Global Share Alliance, (GSA) a multi-stakeholder association committed to quality and sustainability of shea industry, has estimated Nigeria's yearly losses to smuggling of market shea produce to the global market at about $2.2 billion, a development which it says is undermining efforts to translate the benefits of shea production to national advantage.
INTRODUCTION
Shea butter tree is indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa and belongs to the family Supotuceae. Based on distribution, nut species of the plant has been identified namely Vitellaria paradoxa and Vitellaria nilotica. Viteliaria paradoxa is produced mainly in the West African sub-region while Vitellaria nilotica grows mainly in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Shea butter tree grows in the wild and has a huge economic and ecological potential (Okullo et al., 2010). It is a dicotyledonous woody plant it grows typically in the savannah and naturally stretches over Africa in the Northern hemisphere' from southeastern Senegal to Ethiopia and Uganda. The plant thrives naturally in the dry savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 19 countries across the African continent, namely Benin/ Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopian, Guinea Bissau. Cole D'lvoire. Mali, Niger. "Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, logo. Uganda. Zaire and Guinea (FAO, 1998). It covers a swath of the continent, some 5,000km long and 400 - 750km wide.
SHEA BUTTER IN NIGERIA
Nigeria has a comparative advantage in the production and export of Shea nut in Africa over her counterparts due to the large available arable land and suitable climatic conditions for its production. Out of the 923,766 square kilometers or 92. 376. 600 million hectares of the land area of the country, about 45 percent that is 4,156,947 is suitable for the growth of the plant. A Shea butter tree currently grows in the wild in many states including Niger, Nassarawa. Kebbi. Kwara, Kogi, Adamawa. Benue, Edo, Katsina, Plateau, Sokoto, Zamfara, Taraba, Borno and Oyo. Although it appears to be a rather obscure wild species growing side by side with arable crops, it is widely known, valued and exploited by the natives in all the areas where it grows. The English call it Shea, while the French call it Karate. In Nigeria, the Igbos call it okwuma, the Yoruba’s called it ori, while the Hausas call it markade (Brandith, 2004).
THE PRODUCTION OF SHEA BUTTER IN NIGERIA.
The production of Shea nut in West African is estimated at 600,000/mt which is based on traded volume. This production is less than the actual production since it does not include nuts collected from the wild and those consumed locally. Nigeria accounts for 50 percent of the production in West Africa with a total trade value of $400.000. (Brandith, 2004).
PROCESSING OF SHEA BUTTER IN NIGERIA.
Farmers do not pick the fruit from the trees. It must first mature and it falls to the ground from where it is collected. The farmers collect the fruits and carry it to where they perform the Shea Butter making process. The fruit is consumed, and the kernels are used to make the Shea Butter. First the nuts are sorted. Then they are parboiled.
After parboiling, they are left in the sun to dry. They must be completely dehydrated, this part of the process can take up to a week. When they are completely dry, they are collected again and crushed. The farmer crush with a mortar and pestle or some other device, causing the nuts and the kernels to be separated. After this process, the nuts are roasted in a metal pot and put through a grinding process. This makes what looks like a brown paste. The paste is processed a second time in a very difficult procedure. This involves mixing, kneading and adding water into firm paste. (Okuneye, P A 2000)
When this is finished, the resulting butter is creamy and usually thick. It can range in colour from beige to light or dark green or even gray. It spell out normally depends on the season the nuts were harvested, how mature they were and other factors as well. The butter is then either sold as a body product in itself or added to other products. This is the natural and unrefined kind of Shea Butter, which has numerous benefits and health promoting properties. The kind that is refined loses virtually all of its healing properties. (FAO, 2011).
Plate 2 Shea butter nursery from here its can be transplanted in the field.
Plate 1: Shea butter transplanted in the field. Source brunken 2008
Plate 2: Matured Shea butter tree 40-50 years and can fruit for more than 200 years.
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Plate 4: Shea fruits on its stalk
Plate 5: Removing dried pericarp from shea butter fruit
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Plate 6: Sorting of the shea butter fruit.
Plate 7: Boiling of the shea butter
Plate 8: Shea nut left in the sun to dry for complete dehydration for week
Plate 9: Local crushing of shea nuts to separate the nuts from shea butter
Plate 10: Mechanized crushing of shea nuts to separate the nuts from shea butter
Plate 11: Roasting of shea nuts
Plate 12: Mechanized grinding of shea butter
Plate 13: Local grinding of shea butter
Plate 14: The paste is processed a second time in a very arduous procedure. This involves mixing, kneading and adding water into firm paste
Plate 15: Turning of processed shea butter to reduce the heat
Plate 16: Pouring of shea butter into container for it to take shape after cooling.
Plate 17: Shea butter ready for export
USES OF SHEA BUTTER
The major uses of the plant to local communities and industries include consumption of fleshy pulp locally like mango, the fruit when riped can be eaten raw; trunk, bark, cortex, roots and leaves are used in preparation of herbal remedies: trunk makes excellent charcoal and is also useful as building material. In addition butter is extracted from the nut. The butter is also locally used in traditional medicines and cosmetics, chocolates, candle and pastries as cocoa butter substitute. It is also used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics because it is naturally rich in Vitamins A, E. and F. Furthermore Shea butter is widely utilized for domestic purposes such as cooking, skin moisturizer, edible products (Alander, 2004), Traditionally, Shea butter is used as cream for dressing hair, protecting skin from extreme weather and sun, relieving rheumatic and joint pains healing wounds/swelling/bruising, and massaging pregnant women and children. It is also used in treatments of eczema, rashes, burns, ulcers and dermatitis. In Europe and Japan, Shea butter is prized for its super healing and moisturizing properties. It is an ingredient in creams, sun screens, conditioners and in the treatment of burns and muscle pains. (Lovett 2004 a) concluded that Shea butter is a high-value export to Europe and the United States, where it is considered a luxury. In the international market, the price per ton for Shea butter packed in 20 pound dark plastic sacks or 50 kilo dark plastic containers or coated steel drums ranging from US$1,800 to US$2,800 depending on the quality while the local market price ranges from NGN180,000.00 to NGN250,000.00 (that is $1,125 to $1,562.5 per ton) ex Lagos delivery.(Lovett 2004 b)
NIGERIA'S EXPORT POTENTIAL OF SHEA BUTTER
Nigeria, the leading producer of Shea butter in the world with a production capacity of about 600,000 metric tons is yet to fully realize her potentials in the processing and export of Shea butter. (Bonkoungou, 2005). Unlike other agricultural products such as ginger, sesame seed, peanuts whose export potential are well known, the export potential of Shea butter is not well documented by National Bureau of Statistics, Central Bank of Nigeria and National Export Promotion Council (Ekoja, 2004).
Nigeria is a crude oil exporting country and is the second largest economy in sub-Sahara Africa with a population of about 140 million (Ukeje. 2003 a). In Kwara State. Nigeria, the total population is 2,365,353 out of which about half of the population 1,171,570 are female (Annual Abstract of Statistics, 2009). As an agrarian society- about 70 percent of her population is engaged in agricultural production (National Bureau of Statistics/ 2006 a). Kwara State and the nation at large have abundant human and natural resources. As a result, the nation has the potential to build a prosperous economy and provide for the basic needs of all of the population. However, Nigeria is among the poorest countries in the world with about 90 percent of her population living on less than US-$1 a day (Ukeje, 2003 b).
SHEA BUTTER YIELD
The yield per hectare of the tree is an average of 15 -20kg of fruits or 3 - 4 kg dry nuts annually. Some trees in suitable environment can yield up to 50 - 100kg per annum. In favourable environment, phonological germination of the nut takes place within 7-10 days. In places where nuts are planted the growth is slow and seedlings take 2-3 years to reach field planting. Gestation period lasts for 15 - 20 years which makes domestication difficult. Flowering starts at the age of 20 years, and the plant matures at the age of 40 - 50 years and can fruit for more than 200 years (Ismail et al., 2010).
PRODUCTIVE TREES OF SHEA BUTTER IN NIGERIA
This may result into inadequate productive trees which at the long run has potential to drastically reduce the quantity and quality of butter extracted. The low quality of Shea butter is thus a concern, as it falls below international standard. Export figure is low despite higher production, implying more of local consumption. In 2002, only 1.25% of world's total export was recorded; only Shea nuts were exported; specific policies and support programmes for the industry are still being expected; not much support has been received from international agencies, apart from preliminary investigations that were conducted. Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) views Shea nuts and butter as new export commodities for which support for collection, distribution and export is to be provided. This is in recognition of the need to find substitute for the rather expensive cocoa butter (Taiwah. 1994).
PRODUCTION OF SHEA BUTTER IN THE WORLD MARKET
Nigeria is currently the highest producer of shea nuts to the world market, identifying the potentials in shea butter processing among women would bring about an increased mobilization of processors towards poverty reduction, through improvement in the quality and quantity of Shea butter production thereby providing an immense accrued profit for the women processor; thus empowering them, thereby bringing about agricultural development and sustainability in Nigeria. (Journal of sustainable development 2014). Kwara State in particular and the national government would be convinced to plan and implement appropriate strategies towards solving problems and initiate appropriate support programmes for women processors. It is therefore appropriate at this material time when majority of rural women are engulfed with extreme level of poverty to delve into the contributions of Shea butter production towards poverty reduction among women in Nigeria. (NBS, 2006 b)
LEVEL OF INCOME FROM SHEA BUTTER PROCESSING
Earlier on, average Shea butter production was estimated at 21.7kgs/month, that is 0.72kg per day. During the research it was revealed that a kilogram of Shea butter was sold for #600.00 per kilogram. Therefore/ the average income per day for the Shea butter processor was #434 or $2.7 per day. It is overt that this level of income is higher than the extreme poverty level of $1 per day earned by majority of rural dwellers (Edache, 2006). This explains the involvement of West African Trade Hub, an affiliate of United Nation who has stepped into Shea butter processors to improve their economic returns from Shea butter. Currently, a return of $2/800/MT was reported realizable (Eneh, 2010), this is equivalent to earning of $7 per day provided a processor could increase his production.
CONCLUSION
The production and processing of Shea butter could be accelerated if the domestication of Shea tree is practiced and supported by the Government so as to provide sufficient Shea nuts for the processors hence allowing agricultural development in Nigeria to prevail in a sustainable way. The "Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. National Export Promotion Council and Central Bank of Nigeria should make sure that the crop is listed among the export crops. This is to enlist the interest of international agencies on the scientific improvement of the crop and there should be adequate provision of extension services to Shea butter processors.
