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

Peace Corps Ghana Version 1, March 2008
1: The Biology of Shea
Where do Shea trees live?
Ghana is lucky. Ghana and Burkina have the best shea butter in the world. Why?
Because the shea nuts here have the most desirable chemical balance, and the
traditional processing methods create a very clean butter.
The shaded areas depict rainfall values. The small grey dots show areas of shea trees
(Vitellaria paradoxa) in West Africa. The white dots are a different variety of shea
trees in East Africa.
Life Cycle
As deforestation becomes a bigger problem in Ghana, the availability of shea nuts and
butter is directly impacted. Bushfires, cutting of trees for firewood and destructive
farming methods are all factors that affect the availability of shea nuts. Currently,
local people and NGOs are more interested in protecting and cultivating shea trees.
Understanding the life cycle of shea is essential to the survival of the shea butter
business.
The number of years for a tree to reach maturity, and therefore produce fruit, is up for
debate, but it is generally accepted to be 3-5 years. Many people will argue that it
requires 15 or even 20 years to fruit, but ask them how many trees they have planted.
Information on lifespan of shea trees is sparse.
The shea fruit is generally ripe from mid-May through the end of July. There is some
variation due to location and rainfall. The fruit is edible and tasty. Mature nuts come
from fruits that have fallen to the ground, so women will forage for fallen fruit, either
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