The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment yesterday disclosed that Nigeria can only account for 57% of global shea supply, producing about 400,000 metric tonnes annually.
The Permanent Secretary, Industry, Trade and Investment, Edet Sunday Akpan disclosed this during the presentation of the draft shea policy document in Abuja stating that the sector is re positioned for optimal contribution in terms of job creation and generation of revenue for both practitioners and the government.
According to Akpan, “More than half of the quantity of shea produced are unaccounted for owing to poor post-harvest handling, lack of modern processing equipment, low investment, absence of innovation, research and development, predominance of the sector by women and youth who are lacking in capacity and wherewithal in terms of finance and technology to galvanize the sector for job and wealth creation for the country.
“We are far from deriving the maximum benefit in the shea sector of our economy. For us to turn the tide to our advantage, we must do the needful in terms of capacity development, technological development, research and innovations and all that is required in translating our potential to reality.
“This way we will no longer depend on the importation of shea based on products like vegetable oil, soap and other cosmetics products, but we will succeed in building a shea hub which takes us to a point where we will be exporting high quality shea butter and other shea based products as a against the export of raw shea nuts which yield close to nothing.
“Doing this will also bring us to a point where thousands of Nigerians will find new opportunities in shea business and engage millions in both direct and indirect jobs for wealth creation.
Akpan said to change the status quo all hands must be on deck and move with a collective decision. There should be new strategies towards gaining market access for our shea products. ‘we must agree on the right method and process that would attract and stimulate new and sustainable investment in the shea sector.