Uganda on Wednesday launched the Nilotica Shea Alliance (NiSA), a new collaboration between government, investors, and agro-processors aimed at protecting endangered shea trees and expanding the market for shea butter, a key natural cosmetic ingredient.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Alex Lwakuba, Commissioner for Crop Production and Protection at the Agriculture Ministry, described the alliance as a ‘new platform to protect the endangered shea trees and also enable Ugandan shea butter processors to access better foreign markets.’
He said the ministry would support the establishment of shea nut primary processing and value addition facilities under a Public-Private Producer Partnership, including collection centres, bulking, primary processing, and value addition.
‘We are optimistic that this will increase the quality and marketability of shea nut products in regional and international markets,’ Mr Lwakuba said, adding: ‘The ministry intends to support critical interventions in the shea nut value chain by mobilizing the community. to plant, to protect, to conserve and commercialize, to increase industrial exploitation of shea production, both internally and regionally.’
The launch, held in Kampala, brought together partners including the Global Shea Alliance, the International Trade Centre-UN, the Korean International Agency KOICA, and other stakeholders.
‘The major challenges that we are looking to address with the launch of NiSA are that, currently, the shea sector is very fragmented in Uganda,’ said Ms Marie Veyrier of the Global Shea Alliance.
‘You have a lot of stakeholders, but because they haven’t come together, they don’t have a voice,’ she added.
Kim Hyoje, deputy country director for KOICA Uganda, said the alliance would help pool resources and strengthen the industry’s position.
‘Our priority is to ensure that these investments and capacity-building efforts generate tangible benefits for the farmers and communities at the centre of the shea industry,’ he said.
Shea butter, a vegetable fat extracted from the nuts of shea trees, grows naturally across sub-Saharan Africa in the so-called ‘shea belt.’
In Uganda, significant populations of shea trees are found in Lango (Otuke District), Acholi (Kitgum, Pader, Agago, Lamwo), and West Nile sub-regions.
Shea trees are classified as vulnerable due to overexploitation for timber, fuelwood, charcoal production, and land clearing for agriculture.
Yet rising global demand for natural and organic cosmetics has increased the value of shea products.
About 10 percent of shea exports are used in the global cosmetics industry, with an estimated 20,000-25,000 tons of shea butter utilized annually.
‘Particularly restore the shea trees that are being cut down. The opportunities are huge, we need to make known a lot better the particularity of Nilotica shea and how to look at international markets,’ Ms Veyrier said.
The launch, officials held, signals a concerted effort to preserve a vulnerable natural resource while boosting Uganda’s participation in a growing global market for natural cosmetic ingredients.