Northern Uganda's booming shea butter trade

The shea tree which produces the most shea butter, popularly known as Moo Yaa, has proved to be a major income earner for the people of Lira, where shea trees grow on their own in large numbers. The tree exclusively grows in the northern part of Uganda and is regarded as manna from God to alleviate poverty.

Peter Ajungo, the district agricultural officer, says over 26,000 farmers are directly or indirectly earning a living from trading in shea nuts. Some investors are manufacturing a range of industrial and quality consumable products like cooking oil, lotions, shaving cream, mosquito repellents and soap out it. They include the Northern Uganda Shear Processors Association (NUSPA); COVOL, an American company and Gurunanak, an Indian company.

"It is believed that in future the tree will produce modern medicine for both animals and people. Because of its high economic potential, we carried out research on how the tree could be domesticated and grown as a commercial crop," Ajungo said. He says the research is four years old, but has not yet yielded concrete results to guide the local people on whether they should start growing the shea nut tree as a commercial crop or not. Ajungo says on average, the tree takes 12 years to mature, making many local people reluctant to cultivate it. Those who already have the precious tree on their land are guarding it jealously because of the booming trade.

Petra Apili, an administrator for Northern Uganda Shear Processors Association says shea nut trade is booming and many local people, especially women, are benefiting from it. She says the company has a group of 2,000 farmers whom it has given the signed contracts with to supply at least two sacks of shea nuts at harvest time.

NUSPA buys on average 1,000 sacks of shea nuts every harvesting season. A sack of shea nut sells for 100,000 Uganda shillings ($57). When processed, a sack of nuts produces 20 litres of shea butter.

New Vision