By Alex Ababio
Accra this week became the epicenter of one of West Africa’s most underreported yet economically vital sectors, as the 18th Annual Shea Industry Conference convened policymakers, exporters, financiers and grassroots processors seeking to unlock the full value of the region’s “women’s gold.”
The high-level gathering, hosted in Ghana’s capital, brought renewed scrutiny to a sector that supports millions of rural livelihoods but continues to struggle with underinvestment, weak value addition and inequitable profit distribution across the global supply chain.
Opening the conference, Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang underscored the strategic importance of the shea industry to Ghana and Nigeria, describing it as “a critical driver of export earnings, job creation and rural livelihoods, particularly for women.”
Her remarks reflect a growing consensus among policymakers and development institutions that the shea sector—long dominated by informal production and raw exports—requires urgent structural transformation.
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A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry—But Who Really Benefits?
According to the Global Shea Alliance, West Africa produces over 500,000 metric tonnes of shea kernels annually, with Ghana and Nigeria among the leading contributors. The global shea market—driven by demand from the chocolate, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries—is valued at over $2 billion.
Yet despite this scale, value capture remains deeply uneven.
A 2023 report by the World Bank found that while African countries produce nearly all raw shea nuts, less than 10% of value-added processing occurs within the region. Most of the profits are realized in Europe and Asia, where multinational firms refine shea into high-end ingredients for brands such as L’Oréal and Unilever.
“This is a classic case of commodity dependence,” said Albert Zeufack in a widely cited regional economic briefing. “African producers remain stuck at the lowest rung of the value chain unless deliberate industrial policies shift processing closer to production zones.”
Women at the Core—But Still Marginalized
At the heart of the shea economy are an estimated 16 million women across rural West Africa who collect, boil, dry and process shea nuts into butter—often using labor-intensive traditional methods.
Conference discussions repeatedly returned to this paradox: women do the bulk of the work but receive the smallest share of the profits.
A joint study by UN Women and the Food and Agriculture Organization highlights persistent barriers, including limited access to finance, land tenure insecurity and weak bargaining power in international markets.
“These women are not just producers; they are entrepreneurs,” said Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi at a previous regional forum on inclusive value chains. “But without access to capital and markets, their productivity and incomes remain constrained.”
High-Level Talks: Ghana–Nigeria Strategic Alignment
On the sidelines of the conference, a Nigerian delegation led by John Owan Enoh held bilateral discussions with President John Dramani Mahama at Jubilee House.
The talks focused on strengthening the shea value chain through coordinated policies on processing, trade and investment.
Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Sampson Ahi, representing Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, joined key institutions including the Ghana Export-Import Bank and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.
According to officials familiar with the discussions, three core priorities emerged:
Expanding local processing capacity
Improving access to concessional financing
Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area to scale intra-African trade
The AfCFTA, headquartered in Accra, is widely seen as a game-changer for the shea industry, offering a framework to reduce tariffs and harmonize standards across African markets.
Financing the Value Chain: A Persistent Bottleneck
Despite policy ambitions, access to finance remains one of the most critical constraints facing the sector.
Data from the African Development Bank shows that agribusiness SMEs across Africa face a financing gap exceeding $100 billion annually. Shea processors—especially women-led cooperatives—are among the most affected.
“Financial institutions often perceive rural women processors as high-risk borrowers,” noted an AfDB agribusiness financing report. “This limits their ability to invest in improved technologies and scale operations.”
GEXIM, one of the institutions present at the Accra talks, has in recent years launched targeted interventions to support non-traditional exports, including shea. However, stakeholders at the conference acknowledged that funding levels remain insufficient relative to demand.
The Processing Gap: Lost Value, Lost Jobs
One of the most contentious issues raised at the conference is the persistent export of raw shea kernels instead of higher-value butter and derivatives.
Industry analysts estimate that processing shea locally could increase export revenues by up to 300% while generating thousands of jobs in rural areas.
A policy brief by the International Trade Centre emphasizes that countries like Ghana have the technical capacity to expand processing but face challenges related to infrastructure, energy costs and compliance with international quality standards.
“Without investment in modern processing facilities, African producers will continue to lose value to foreign refiners,” the ITC report notes.
Climate Threats and Sustainability Concerns
Beyond economics, the shea industry is increasingly under pressure from climate change.
Shea trees grow wild across the savannah belt and can take up to 20 years to mature. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and land-use changes are threatening yields.
Research from the Center for International Forestry Research warns that climate variability could significantly reduce shea productivity in coming decades if conservation measures are not implemented.
This has prompted calls for stronger environmental protections and reforestation programs—issues that were also discussed at the Accra conference.
Global Demand Is Rising—But Standards Are Tightening
The global appetite for shea butter continues to grow, driven by demand in the cosmetics and chocolate industries.
However, market access is becoming more complex.
Exporters must now meet stringent sustainability, traceability and quality standards imposed by international buyers. The European Union’s evolving regulations on deforestation-free supply chains, for example, could significantly impact African exporters.
“This is both a challenge and an opportunity,” said a trade analyst from the ITC. “Countries that invest in traceability and certification systems will gain a competitive edge.”
Government Commitments—And the Road Ahead
At the close of the bilateral engagements, both Ghana and Nigeria reaffirmed their commitment to deeper cooperation in developing the shea sector.
The discussions emphasized:
Strengthening regional value chains
Supporting rural women processors
Expanding market access through AfCFTA
Scaling investment in processing infrastructure
Vice President Opoku-Agyemang’s opening remarks set the tone: the shea industry is no longer just a rural enterprise—it is a strategic economic asset.
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The Bigger Picture: Can Africa Retain Its Wealth?
The Accra conference highlights a broader question facing many African economies: how to move from raw material export to value-added industrialization.
For the shea sector, the stakes are particularly high.
With millions of livelihoods dependent on it—and global demand continuing to rise—the choices made now could determine whether West Africa captures a greater share of its natural wealth or continues to export it at minimal value.
As Albert Zeufack cautioned in his regional outlook, “The path to inclusive growth lies in transforming Africa’s commodities into competitive industries.”
For the women cracking, drying and churning shea in villages across northern Ghana and beyond, that transformation cannot come soon enough.