Commodity chain : Shea tree - Burkina Faso

Background History of the Project

Since 2003, Terre d'Oc buys shea butter to three groups of women in Burkina Faso. Following a first encounter between the company and these groups of women, the groups were able to receive biological certification and three groups of producers were trained according to FLO specifications (Fair Trade Labelling Organisations) / Max Havelaar). Terre d'Oc had been committed to Bio PARTENAIRE for several years (notably on the argan chain), and the company wished to formalise its approach with an ESR certification, which it got in 2011.

Local Partners

-Three groups of women: The WEMOUKIGA group in Pô, the Ragussi Association in Tanghin Dassouri and the CDN Union of Women in Réo.

-The CEAS-Burkina Association (Albert Schweitzer Ecological Centre)

Context/Stakes

To allow groups of women:

-to locally manufacture a natural shea butter of a high quality (the kernels are all too often exported without added value and transformed into shea butter in Europe);

-to improve extraction productivity;

-to soften the workload with the use of mechanical presses;

-to sustain the value and to protect the shea tree (one of the very few oil-producing plants of Sahel).

Program Description

Scattered across the country, thousands of women harvest shea fruits. Harvesting is an extra work, carried out after work in the fields. Groups manufacturing the shea butter are organised as co-ops, with a board of directors. Women collecting the fruits do not belong to these groups; they are village women who sell small quantities (1 or 2 kg each). Operations are comparable to those of Moroccan women for argan: each group has a workshop and produces its own shea butter. Those workshops help employ persons with a difficult social profile, such as widows.

CEAS is in direct and continuous contact with the groups to assist them on administrative and safety matters. Needs are evaluated by the NGO, in cooperation with the groups.

Terre d'Oc financially and technically assists women and trains them to traceability and export (financed via CEAS). The company also sends equipment (such as rubber boots) to protect the women from snake bites.

Terre d'OC also discussed their know-how on quality with the women to improve the regularity on batches. In the medium term, the NGO will retrieve from the program and the groups will become autonomous.

The market remains to be developed through the purchase of higher volumes to increase the number of beneficiaries. Should the program work, a driving movement will occur which will attract other producers to the groups.

To add value locally, Terre d'Oc is presently studying how to deodorise on site, as opposed to the deodorisation process now achieved in France. This would allow producers to increase their revenues. Trials with natural soils able to absorb smells and to bleach the butter are under process. Carrying out the process on site within the groups of women producers would require extensive manpower, which would allow to employ more women in the workshops.

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Company engaged in this Commodity Chain

TERRE D'OC