The cooperatives bring processed shea butter to the Union center where further filtering and packaging is done to produce a premium grade of shea butter for the local market.

They have future goals of targeting the international market, but right now they are meeting the local demand within Mali and the neighboring countries for quality shea and soap bars to be used for personal care.

Madam Fatima displays finished soap bar

Soap Bars Ready for Sale

Shea Butter Packaged in 1kg tubs for local use

The shea tree is a West African plant frequently found in villages and surrounding areas. The tree produces shea nuts towards the beginning of the rainy season. If the rainy season is generous, the trees produce many nuts. The tree’s wood burns very easily, and rural populations cut great numbers of shea trees to make charcoal.

Thanks to efforts by the agents of the Forest and Waters Departments and of village associations fighting against desertification, shea trees continue to exist.

Rural women – who are the people most affected by poverty – lead the efforts to process shea nuts into shea butter. When women sell shea butter in the marketplace, the income allows them to support their families. As detailed in the script, these women would greatly benefit if they had machinery such as a mill because it would help them transform the shea nut into a softer paste. Machinery would also help make the processing quicker and less tiring than processing by hand.

The Song-Taaba Yalgré organisation represents the interests of Burkina Faso’s shea butter producers, most of whom are rural women, by helping them to improve production and boost sales. Song-Taaba Yalgré itself is based in Ouagadougou, but most of its 2,000 members live in remote areas so communication is difficult, time-consuming and costly. The organisation therefore developed an ICT project to address this problem, with promising results.

Global Shea 2010 will focus on the key issues affecting shea, from the nut to the butter, the producer to the retailer.
Issues to be discussed include: Women’s Shea Butter Associations, Processors, Traders, Financial Institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations, Government, Civil Society, Exporters, Transporters, Logistics Providers, International Buyers and more.

For more information on the event please contact Global Shea
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The roasting of the crushed nuts serves to soften the nuts and make the next steps of oil the extraction easier. I have seen the roasting of shea nuts done in two ways. The crushed nuts are roasted in an open pan, or they are placed into a roaster as shown below.  Both ways are fine as long as there is no burning.

According to George Adebiyi, Fullbright Scholar and Mississippi State University mechanical engineering professor, finding a more efficient and affordable way for average farmers to dry their crops, will be a big step toward improving storage. According to Adebiyi,  without proper storage, they have to sell their crops early and  not be able to sell at the right price.

What I loved most about the promotion of this event is that there are no educational and or professional restrictions on participating as Maker at MFA.

Looking forward to Maker Faire 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya

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