Shea butter: Minister raises concern on $200b for other

Hajiya. Salima Makama, Minister of state, FMITI Hajia Aisha Abubarkar & Director, Commodities and Products Inspectorate Department, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) Mrs. Ope Ewe

The Minister of State, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar has said that the untapped Shea butter industry was already attracting an annual income of over $200 billion into other countries where its potential is properly harnessed for employment and wealth creation. She said this at Alliance Agenda conference held at Abuja.

She said it was unarguable that developed economies such as USA and Europe have embraced Shea product as very important ingredient and raw materials for foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, among others. “It is interesting to note that the global market for natural cosmetics is estimated to be about $30 billion and expected to grow about 10 per cent annually. Of this, the certified natural cosmetics component is about 45 percent while the remaining 55 percent consists of near-natural cosmetics,” she said. 

In his remark at the event, Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, whose state is among the Shea producers, said partnership would bring about the much needed empowerment to the people in line with the policy of the Federal Government to encourage business between Nigeria Shea/industry shareholders and international buyers of the product and that it would support government’s effort at diversifying the state’s economy by enhancing productivity in agro allied endeavors at rural levels, help in poverty eradication and employment.

The governor, who promised to encourage other corporate bodies to do the same, had earlier unfolded plans to distribute new improved Shea seedlings to encourage more cultivation. 

It was gathered that the state government had also intensified efforts at sensitizing private sector players and other development partners to awaken rural populace, especially women to tap into the huge potential in Shea production.

The  Managing Director, Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Aliyu Abdulhameed said Nigeria could earn up to $500 million from 1 million metric tons if it harness its huge potential and that Nigeria presently makes about $320 million from export of 445 metric tons of Shea butter, according to available information.

The National President Shea Products Association of Nigeria, Jibril Bokani, told foodfarmnews that With 16 producing states, Nigeria has the capacity to produce 325,000 metric tonnes of Shea nut yearly. With that it can grab a huge chunk of the global market worth about $10 billion. The market is expected to hit $30 billion by 2020. 

He further suggested that Nigeria should leverage its nature-endowed comparative advantage in Shea butter production and export to replace oil as major revenue earner, adding that more focus on the non-oil export sector, especially the Shea, would lead to a surge in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Bokani noted that if the product was fully harnessed and quality control and standardization of processing addressed, Nigeria might take a chunk of the huge global market, adding that if Nigeria became a competitive global player in Shea production, it would give impetus to the current industrialization push and lift millions out of poverty, as Nigeria literally seats on a Shea butter goldmine.

For instance, said he, Nigeria produces 325,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of shea nut, making her world’s largest shea nut producer, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

A Shea butter producer, Mrs. Grace Adamu told foodfarmnews that she intended to ensure that companies source products directly from producers in the villages, where villagers are involved through manually collecting, sorting, crushing, roasting, grinding, and separating the oils from the butter and shaping the finished product.

She explained that the raw nuts collected from them are processed into unrefined Shea butter and that the villages also make money by selling the raw nuts to companies that extract, refine and export the oil abroad for cosmetic purposes. 

She said that internationally, 90 per cent of Shea nuts are used in the food and confectionary industry for the production of cocoa butter equivalents or to improve confectionaries and margarines. 

She identified continued rising demand for cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) due to rising world consumption of chocolate, high prices for cocoa, and strong demand for natural cosmetics and soaps as principal factors driving the demand for Shea.

However, despite its capacity to earn foreign exchange, reduce poverty, empower women, and generate employ through the establishment of Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs), Shea production and export, like many other agric products in the non-oil sector, remained neglected. But with shea2018 a new thinking in favor of positioning Shea production and export to lead the renewed diversification drive may have taken centre stage.