Stakeholders in the shea sector have been called on by Shea Network Ghana (SNG) to demonstrate more dedication to enhancing the weak policies and regulations affecting the governance of the shea sector.
Shea Network Ghana (SNG) is a multi-stakeholder non-governmental organization (NGO) which seeks to influence policy and provide solutions to industry-wide challenges for a growing and coordinated shea sector. Its current mission to get stakeholders to portray some form of commitment is to bridge a gap of absence of commitment in the sector which they believe, has contributed to the slow growth of the sector.
This call on stakeholders comes on the back of a study the NGO conducted using the Gender, Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Shea project as a baseline.
The NGO in a communique indicated that the infringement on the rights of women to own their land of shea trees is discouraging more of the rural women in the sector which on a larger scale is affecting job creation opportunities.
Women in the shea sector are not allowed to own lands but they have the rights to collect the nuts and fruits from their husbands’ farms.
The two and half years’ project, which started from September 2017 and ended in February 2020, was themed “Improving Marginalised Women’s Rights To Access And Control Shea Parklands To Guarantee Long Term Sustainable Investment”.
The project was aimed at increasing the inclusion of women and excluded social groups into long term decision making on Shea parkland management for sustainable investment.
The study was also to ascertain the reason behind stakeholders’ lack of commitment to address the issues of the Shea sector as well as ensure increased presence of women in all segments of the value chain.
The National Coordinator for Shea Network Ghana Mr. Iddi Zakaria Batitoe in a response said, the project is to help increase the will of national authorities such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Office of the President to create space for conversations on Shea and issues of park-lands governance.
According to him, the women groups in the rural areas have been thriving on Shea picking and processing hence, to get the commitment of the stakeholders could go a long way to make the sector vibrant.
He noted that this constraint has discouraged the rural women in Shea nut picking, from accessing the trees to invest in Shea agro-forestry practices such as conservation, farmer managed natural rejuvenation as well as bush fires management to protect the trees.
Mr. Batitoe further appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the Office of the President to create an environment for conversations on Shea and issues of park-lands governance.
“We have been liaising with other partners to educate the women and traditional authorities on the importance of the economic Shea trees but lack of resources and finances have been affecting our activities, hence, the need for government to help address the challenges confronting the sector.”
