Climate change poses a threat to the survival of shea trees in the nation’s northern areas — specifically in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, North East, and Savannah Regions.
Certainly, shea tree production is experiencing a significant downturn because of the severe weather patterns impacting their output.
Recent data indicates that sheanut production has dropped between 10% and 20%, with the trend showing no signs of reversing as it keeps plummeting because of climate change along with various other ecological influences.
Although the nation produces more than 150,000 metric tons of shea nuts each year, only around 30-40 percent of this amount is converted into shea butter within the country itself. The remainder is primarily shipped overseas in their unprocessed form, mostly to Europe, where they undergo refinement.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, shea nut exports decreased somewhat in 2020. That year saw only 75,000 metric tons exported from Ghana, valued at approximately $70 million.
In 2021, however, sheanut exports saw another increase and have continued to rise since then. The export volume for that year reached 85,000 metric tons of sheanuts with a value of around $80 million. By 2022, this figure had grown to more than 90,000 metric tons of both sheanuts and shea butter, which were estimated to be worth roughly $90 million.
This is why the Ghana Shea Employers Association (GSEA) has again demanded an urgent prohibition on exporting unprocessed shea nuts, pointing out the increasing risk posed to local processors, stakeholders in the supply chain, and the overall economy in the northern areas.
They express concern that the circumstances are having an adverse impact on harvesters, processors, and local enterprises, with a significant number being female-owned.
Consequently, the organization is urging involvement from international investors, provided that they set up manufacturing plants in Ghana to enhance employment opportunities and increase local income.
Sheanut production, as one of the nation’s key unconventional agricultural exports, offers a chance to boost the earnings of rural women in northern Ghana, thus aiding in narrowing the economic disparity between the north and south regions.
The rain cycles have turned unpredictable and brief, leading to sporadic dry spells. This situation is adversely affecting small-scale farmers who depend significantly on monsoon rains for their agricultural operations.
The impact of climate change extends beyond just food crops; deep-rooted trees are similarly affected by the continuously increasing temperatures.
Moreover, environmental damage associated with unchecked extraction, forest clearance, frequent wildfires, cutting down of shea trees for fuelwood and charcoal manufacturing, as well as the obliteration of shea tree plantations for extensive farming, pose significant risks to biodiversity and exacerbate climate change.
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