Shea Butter A Guide to Production and Marketing - AGOA Export ...

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Peace Corps Ghana Version 1, March 2008 For example, The butter buyer wants to buy butter at the lowest price. Meanwhile the butter seller wants to sell at the highest price. Still there are many benefits to a Value Chain as compared to a traditional business relationship. First, Value Chains provide for better information sharing among all members. A butter buyer will offer quality feedback or make packaging requests of the butter seller. The butter seller can ask the buyer for help with transportation. Also, the Value Chain as a whole is competing with other chains, so the focus will shift from profit to quality. If the end result is poor quality butter, consumers won’t be interested and the whole chain will suffer. As you go up each step of the chain, the level of education, time, and other resources increases. When deciding where on the Value Chain you want to be, consider the level of education and resources available to the group. It may not be possible for your group to export directly to a US company, but maybe you can connect them to a buyer of shea butter, educate producers on quality standards, provide local producers with market information, link producers to buyers, or help source funding for a grinding mill or other equipment to increase production. In rural villages, price is definitely the most talked about problem. The most important thing is to account for all costs in the production of the butter and cross check for profit or loss. Butter buyers complain more about consistency and quality. At the end of the chain there is a huge factory processing chocolate, and they want all ingredients to be standardized. And the occasional stick or dead bug may seem like no big deal to the market women, but L’Oreal will freak out. 5: Working at the Producer Level Most likely, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, you will be working with Producer Groups. This section addresses some of the issues to consider when working at this end of the Value Chain. Group Dynamics Most communities have women's groups that form and come together for a variety of reasons, but most likely for economic support. When considering shea butter processing as an economic venture, forming establishing a well structured women's group is imperative. As with any group that aims to be functional and effective in its capacities, certain roles and responsibilities must first be designated to rightful people in that group. Having proper knowledge of the personalities and characters of the group is a great asset in learning who would best assume a particular leadership role. Women already have deep relationships with the other women in their communities and know who the natural leaders of the group are. Sometimes, however, members are elected to higher positions of the group based on social standing in the community (for example being the wife of a big man in the community) and not necessarily the Page 12 of 28
Peace Corps Ghana Version 1, March 2008 leadership skills that would designate her as the right person for the position. This is a delicate issue, but may require attention to ensure the vitality of the group. Roles Within a Group Try holding a meeting with interested women in your community and discussing the roles necessary for group management. When becoming engaged in shea processing with bigger buyers, groups should have at least the following positions to help manage the group: 1. A Chairwoman to call and facilitate meetings, communicate current information, and guide the larger decisions of the group 2. A Vice Chairwoman to assist the Chairwoman and to serve as Acting Chairwoman in her absence. 3. A Treasurer to collect and record meeting dues and money distribution amongst the group 4. A Secretary to write minutes, monitor producing groups (if in different locations), and keep records of the activities of the group. Identifying Your Market One of the most important things to do in establishing your group is to identify your markets. Different markets require different levels of group development, skills and resources to satisfy the demands for that particular market. For example, some women come together and produce butter in larger quantities for local markets around their area striving for a reputation as having better butter quality than their local competitors. Other groups who have more resources and management knowledge may gain access to medium size buyers within the region and be able to sell in quantity at whatever desired quality. Some well developed groups have earned the trust to contract with larger private companies that might have more strict demands on quantity at quality with strict deadlines to fulfill orders. What is best is a matter of opinion and depends on whatever circumstances face your particular group and processing location. Assessing your group's capacity is vital to determining your markets. Here are some key questions to ask: • What is the level of commitment and seriousness upon your group? • Is there strong leadership? • How many available processors are there and what are their time constraints? • Do your women pick their own nuts during the season or do they buy them from surrounding communities? • What level of quality are you capable of producing? Page 13 of 28
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