Dakar 2002: Birth of a Network

From 4 to 6 March 2002, with support from the CFC and FAO, stakeholders of the shea sector from all 16 producer countries were brought together at Dakar for a workshop on Shea Processing and Marketing in Africa. Representation was drawn from rural producer groups and marketing associations, support organizations, national research and development institutions, local government and the private sector.

Across the region—and a diversity of geographic and political strata—the critical issues of the shea sector were remarkably consistent. During workshop discussions, participants identified the critical constraints to the productivity of the shea resource, which may be summarized as follows:

• insufficiency of available and widely-acceptable ‘improved’ technologies for shea processing, particularly in West and Central Africa (locally-appropriate, improved technologies are already established in Eastern Africa);
• lack of producer access to existing appropriate technologies for village-level extraction and post-extraction processing;
• sub-optimal productivity and inconsistent product quality;
• lack of product quality standards, consistency of pricing, common and standard units of measure;
• lack of product characterisation, classification, standardisation, certification and labelling;
• lack of producer organisation and professional capacity;
• problems of market structure: many commercial intermediaries without added value;
• weak, inconsistent and often un-supportive policy environment;
• strong competition from other, cheaper products with higher prestige or promotional profile (including imported relief food oils);
• lack of consumer awareness of the nutritional value and unique therapeutic attributes of shea at all levels (local to international);
• lack of access to essential technical and market information on the part of producers and other stakeholders in the shea sector.