Update: February 2004

Massacres of civilians at Abia and Barlonyo (both in Lira District, Northern Uganda attracted some momentary attention regionally and internationally. Since last June (2003), more than 14 members of the northern Uganda Shea Processors Association (NUSPA) have been killed—mostly beaten to death or cut to pieces with pangas (machetes)—though communication has been lost between the districts of Pader, Lira and Katakwi.

More recently events have taken a far more dangerous turn, with ethnic killings on the increase between the ethnic groups resident in these three districts. As the Acholi (mainly of Gulu District, to the west) are identified with the so-called “Lords Resistance Army” (see NEWS Nouvelles December 2003), the Acholi have been killed both in Lira and Katakwi districts. Meanwhile the government has armed and trained homeguard militias in these districts, nominally to protect the residents of the ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps throughout northern and eastern Uganda.

The recent massacres have broken any remaining restraint on the part of the desperate people being cut to pieces and burnt alive with increasing magnitude and frequency. At a “peace march” in Lira town on 25 February, several Acholi people were killed by mobs enraged at the inaction and contempt they perceive on the part of various government spokesmen—the same tired clichés they have been hearing for the past seven years or more. Meanwhile, suffering and death are increasing, while the world stands by and—once in a long while—watches in wonder and dismay.

Meanwhile, the producers of NUSPA have risen to the occasion, risking their lives in some cases, along with interested local traders—in order to keep the supply of top-quality flowing. Production by NUSPA groups has been continuing, with production of just over 1,200 kg of Nilotica shea butter since September of last year (2003).

Production Management and Product Certification

Introduction of a new production management system has enabled NUSPA, and the Shea Project, to document the supply chain and processing history and quality of product from batch to batch; this information will be made available to international importers of shea butter as a certification of origin.

A harmonized system of shea product certification will be further developed and extended throughout the African shea zone over the next three years, with pilot activities in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan and Uganda scheduled to begin during the coming (2004) harvest, with support from the Common Fund for Commodities.

The Shea Tree in Uganda

In Uganda, the shea tree is found primarily in the central northern region, between Lira, Gulu, Kitgum and Soroti. The tree is found along the borders of Congo (north of Lake Albert) and Sudan, with a small and isolated population in Nakasongola.

The densest populations of the tree happen to occur in precisely those areas most affected by the long and brutal insurgency conducted by the self-styled “Lords Resistance Army” (LRA), characterized by murder, looting and abduction of civilians, particularly of children.

Though the area has been affected by LRA activities for over a decade, there have been several periods of increased trauma, one from 1996-98, one in 2000, and the worst and most recent beginning in May of 2002. Since then, the security situation in northern Uganda has grown ever more dire.

Development of the shea resource of Uganda began in 1990, with the conception of the Shea Project for Local Conservation and Development (The Shea Project), developed by volunteers of COVOL, a non-profit, non-governmental organization. Implementation of the Shea Project began in 1992 with technical development and a revolving loan program in Otuke County, Lira District.

The Shea Project: COVOL Uganda

With pilot funding from USAID from 1995-97, the Shea Project developed into a set of integrated programs in technology development, product and market development, rural credit, environmental education, and applied research on the shea resource.

Under the pilot phase, technical experts from Ghana helped COVOL to develop a technology package for improved shea processing, manufactured in northern Uganda by the SAIMMCO workshop at Soroti, based on a simple hand-press and a diesel-powered grinding unit.

From 1997, improved processing technology has been purchased by rural community-based groups within the project area, and by development organizations working in the SPLM-administered areas of the New Sudan.

During the pilot phase, over 400 community-based organizations, with a total membership of more than 10,000 farmers, of which two-thirds were rural women. A simple and well-illustrated technical training curriculum was developed for improved processing, and promotional materials were developed in English and seven vernacular languages, including Acholi, Lango, Ateso, Leb Thur, Dinka, and Alur.

Technical improvement of processing resulted in a very high-quality shea butter, produced as a roasted food-oil and a cold-pressed cosmetic-grade shea butter, both of which are processed without the use of chemicals.

In 1997, shea butter producers of northern Uganda came together to form a national marketing association called NUSPA—the Northern Uganda Shea Producers Association. The membership of NUSPA consists of over 2000 members of producer groups in the districts of Lira, Pader, Katakwi and Gulu. The NUSPA Executive consists of three delegates from each producer group, of which two must be women—this to preserve the custodial role traditionally held by women in relation to the shea tree and its products.

From 1998-2002, with support from USAID, the McKnight Foundation and the European Commission, the Shea Project expanded to cover much of northern Uganda, including the districts of Lira (Otuke County), Kitgum / Pader (Agago County), Kotido (Labwor County), Katakwi (Amuria and Kapelebyong counties), with outreach activities in Gulu District.

Due to the peculiar physical and chemical properties of the eastern African sub-species of the shea butter tree, nilotica, the Nilotica Whole and Otuke shea butters developed under the Shea Project have achieved worldwide recognition as unique and precious natural products for skin and hair.

Private Industry

Several industrial enterprises based in Kampala and in Lira have expressed an interest in development of Ugandan shea butter on an industrial level. However, the characteristic softness of the nilotic product constrain Ugandan shea butter from the lower- and middle-level price niches of the international market.

Security Concerns

In May of 2002, large numbers of LRA rebels poured into northern Uganda from their bases in southern Sudan, as a direct consequence of “Operation Iron Fist”, a cross-border counter-insurgency operation of the Ugandan military, conducted with the approval of the Sudan military.

From that time to the present, LRA activities have come to totally destabilize larger and larger areas of northern Uganda, from the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Pader to include such easterly districts as Kotido, Katakwi and Soroti. Attacks on towns and municipalities including Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Soroti have become regular occurrences. Nearly all of the rural population in the project area - those who could not afford to seek refuge in the relative safety of the towns - has been forced to abandon their homes for camps for the “internally displaced”.

Current Conditions: October 2003

The security situation has had drastic repercussions on the Ugandan shea sector this year, and much of the 2003 harvest was wasted on the ground due to displacement of the producers.

Sheanut has disappeared from the town markets, and prices for sheanut on rural markets has shot up to five times the normal rate for this time of year—while the volume of the plastic cup used as the standard unit of measure has shrunk from 0.5 L to 0.33 L.

NUSPA and The Shea Project

With most NUSPA members resident in the camps, the Shea Project has relied on the intrepid producers to make forays into their home areas. The grinding unit formerly located at Corner Adwari has been removed and installed at the Shea Project main office at Lira. NUSPA group members bring their sheanut to Lira by bicycle or any other transport, and process their sheanut into shea butter for purchase by the project.

The project has thus centralized its production operations, until such time as the displaced communities of NUSPA members may return to their homes in safety.

Product quality has improved with the current harvest. The 2002 harvest was patchy, and characterized by a distinct and unusually soft consistency—to the extent that the product remained in liquid form for months. This phenomenon was evident across the northern Uganda shea zone, and in contiguous production areas of southern Sudan, and cannot be explained by any known factor—another mystery from the shea tree.

Uganda Discussion Group