SHEA CONSERVATION INITIATIVE

WOMEN ACTION GROUP

If women are involved in decision-making, and if they had the required and needed access as men to productive and financial resources, income, education and services, agricultural yield would increase and the number of poor and hungry would fall. Our conservation agriculture project aims at equipping women with skills in Shea Butter Oil processing and packaging for sustainable income with significant impact on environment conservation and climate change resilience. Shea tree is one of the traditional African nutritional plant. The fruit with an oil-rich seed has been an integral part of our heritage. Periodically, we pick up to 45kg of fresh fruit per tree, yielding approximately 18kg of dry seed. However, the shea nut, a savannah wild tree, scientifically known as vitellaria nilotica of the sapotaceae family, is at the edge of extinction if nothing is done. The species heavily cover most of Madi Okollo vegetation, it is source of income, in fact ‘Women’s Gold’ selling at £2 per liter and both sauce and skin food to the people. It is an ageless treasure that has been used to initiate brides, nourish babies and anoint during traditional ceremonies including rituals. Population explosion, extreme poverty, urbanization, modernity, consumerism and human action in logging, charcoal burning have all taken their heavy toll on shea tree.