Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:32:48.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

African Shea Butter: A Feminized Subsidy from Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Marlène Elias  and
Judith Carney
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is indigenous to Africa's Sudano-Sahelian region and crucial to savanna ecosystems and peoples. African women have long collected, marketed and transformed shea nuts into a multipurpose butter. The growing global trade in shea butter destined for the Western food and cosmetics industries thus represents an opportunity to bolster impoverished female incomes. However, such international sales are also prompting changes in the west African shea landscape. This article examines the role of shea as a female heritage in Burkina Faso, West Africa's largest shea exporter. It focuses on the knowledge systems informing the management, conservation and processing of shea. It also considers the effects of global shea commercialization on the maintenance of traditional agroforestry practices, tenure rights, and butter-making techniques. In so doing, the article illuminates the cultural and botanical heritage of shea as well as the significance of this species in biodiversity protection, African natural heritages and female knowledge systems.

Résumé

Le karité (Vitellariaparadoxa), arbre indigène de la région soudano-sahélienne, est crucial pour les écosystèmes et les peuples de la savane. Depuis longtemps, les femmes africaines ramassent, commercialisent et transforment la noix de karité en beurre multi-usage. L'essor du commerce mondial du beurre de karité destiné aux industries alimentaires et cosmétiques occidentales représente donc une opportunité d'améliorer les revenus des femmes appauvries. Or, ce commerce international entraîne également des changements dans le paysage ouest-africain. Cet article examine le rôle du karité en tant qu'héritage féminin au Burkina Faso, premier pays exportateur de karité en Afrique de l'Ouest. Il examine les systèmes de savoir qui sous-tendent la gestion, la conservation et la transformation du karité. Il étudie également les effets de la commercialisation mondiale du karité sur le maintien des pratiques agroforestières traditionnelles, les droits fonciers et les techniques de fabrication du beurre. Ce faisant, l'article met en lumière l'héritage culturel et botanique du karité, ainsi que l'importance de cette espèce dans la protection de la biodiversité, les héritages naturels africains et les systèmes de savoir féminins.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 77 , Issue 1: Nature as Local Heritage in Africa , February 2007 , pp. 37 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbiw, D. K. 1990. Useful Plants of Ghana: West African uses of wild and cultivated plants. London: Intermediate Technology Publications and The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agbahungba, G. and D. Depommier. 1989. ‘Aspects du parc à karité-nérés (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn. F. Parkia biglobosa Jacq. Benth.) dans le sud de Borgou (Bénin)’, Bois et Forêts des Tropiques 222:41–54.Google Scholar
ANDINES, 2002. Beurre de karité: Groupe LAAFI (Burkina Faso) et ANDINES (France), Ile Saint Denis: ANDINES SA.Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. 1986. ‘Commodities and the politics of value’ in Appadurai, A. (ed.), The Social Life of Things: commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Audette, R. 1995. Étude de la filiére karité. Programme Micro-Réalisations Burkina Faso. ACDI, Projet 960/16010.Google Scholar
Berkes, F. 1999. Sacred Ecology: traditional ecological knowledge and resource management. Philadelphia, PA: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Berkes, F., Colding, J. and Folke., C. 2000. ‘Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management’, Ecological Applications 10: 1251–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bessiére, J. 1998. ‘Local development and heritage: traditional food and cuisine as tourist attractions in rural areas’, Sociologia Ruralis 38 (1): 21–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biquard, A. 1992. ‘Femmes et innovations technologique: pertes sans profit. L'exemple du beurre de karité (Mali)’ in Bissiliat, J., Pinton, F. and Lecarme, M. (eds), Relations de genre et développement: femmes et sociétés. Paris: ORSTOM.Google Scholar
Bliss, F. and Gaesing, K.. 1992. Mo¨glichkeiten der Einbeziehung von Frauen in Massnahmen der ressourcenschonenden Nutzung von Baumbesta¨nden. Forschungsberichte des Bundesministeriums fur Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit. Munich: Weltforum Verlag.Google Scholar
Boffa, J-M. 1991. ‘Land and Tree Management and Tenure Policies in Burkina Faso's Agroforestry System’. MS thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.Google Scholar
Boffa, J-M. 1995. ‘Productivity and Management of Agroforestry Parklands in the Sudan Zone of Burkina Faso’. PhD dissertation, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.Google Scholar
Boffa, J-M. 1999. Agroforestry Parklands in Sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Conservation Guide No. 34. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Boffa, J-M., Yaméogo, G., Nikiéma, P. and Knudson, D. M.. 1996. ‘Shea nut (Viellaria paradoxa) production and collection in agroforestry parklands of Burkina Faso’ in Leakey, R. R. B. et al. (eds), Domestication and Commercialization of Non-Timber Forest Products in Agroforestry Systems: non-wood forest products. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Bonkoungou, E. G. 1987. Monographie du Karité, Butyrospermum paradoxum (Gaertn., F.) Hepper, espéce agroforestiére a usages multiples. Ouagadougou: Institut de Recherche en Biologie et Ecologie Tropicale.Google Scholar
Boussim, I. J. and Guinko, G. S. A. S.. 1993. ‘Tapinantus parasite du karité au Burkina Faso, premiére partie’, Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 238: 45–7Google Scholar
Breman, H. and Kessler, J. J.. 1995. Woody Plants in Agro-Ecosystems of Semi-Arid Regions, with an Emphasis on the Sahelian Countries. Berlin: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkill, H. M. 1985. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Volume 4. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens.Google Scholar
Carney, J. 1988. ‘Struggles over crop rights and labour within contract farming households in a Gambian irrigated rice project’, Journal of Peasant Studies 50 (3): 334–49.Google Scholar
Carney, J. and Elias, M.. Forthcoming. ‘Revealing gendered landscapes: indigenous female knowledge and agroforestry of African shea’, Canadian Journal of African Studies.Google Scholar
Chalfin, B. 2000. ‘Risky business: economic uncertainty, market reforms and female livelihoods in northeast Ghana’, Development and Change 31: 987–1008.Google Scholar
Chalfin, B. 2001. ‘Border zone trade and the economic boundaries of the state in north-east Ghana’, Africa 71 (2): 202–24.Google Scholar
Compaoré, P. N. 2000. ‘Femmes Développement et Transfert de Technologies. Le Cas des Presses à Karité au Burkina Faso’. PhD dissertation, University of Montreal.Google Scholar
Crélerot, F. 1995. ‘Importance of Shea Nuts for Women's Activities and Young Child Nutrition in Burkina Faso: the case of the Lobi’. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Depommier, D. and Ramakrishnan, P. S. (eds). 2002. Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Development. Pondicherry: Institut Francais de Pondichery.Google Scholar
Elias, M. 2003. ‘Globalization and Female Production of African Shea Butter in Rural Burkina Faso’. Masters thesis, University of California, Los Angeles..Google Scholar
Ertug, F. 2003. ‘Gendering the tradition of plant gathering in Central Anatolia (Turkey)’ in Howard, P.L. (ed.), Women and Plants. London: Zed Books..Google Scholar
FAOSTAT. Trade statistics 1961–2004, Accessed online 10 February 2006, at:http://apps.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Trade.CropsLivestockProducts&Domain=Trade&servlet=1&hasbulk=0&version=ext&language=ENGoogle Scholar
Faucon, M.,Sauvageau, A. and Bahl, S. 2001. ‘Cou?t de production pour le beurre de karité du groupement Laafi’. Unpublished data, Centre d'Études et de Coopération Internationale (CECI), Ouagadougou.Google Scholar
Fold, N. 2000. ‘A matter of good taste? Quality and the construction of standards for chocolate products in the European Union’, Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales 55–56: 91–110.Google Scholar
Gosso, D. 1996. ‘Etude de l'importance socio-économique du karité et des dangers qui menacent sa survie’. Thése pour Diplo?me de Technicien Supérieur (DTS), Ouagadougou.Google Scholar
Gray, L. 2003. ‘Investing in soil quality: farmer responses to land scarcity in southwestern Burkina Faso’ in Bassett, T. and Crummey, D. (eds), African Savannas: global narratives and local knowledge of envrionmental change. Oxford and Portsmouth, NH: James Currey and Heinemann.Google Scholar
Gutierrez, M.-L. and Juhé-Beaulaton, D.. 2002. ‘Histoire du parc à Néré (Parkia biglobosa Jacqu. Benth.) sur le plateau d'Abomey (Bénin): de sa conservation pour la production et la commercialisation d'un condiment, l'afitin’, Les Cahiers d'Outre-Mer 220:453–74.Google Scholar
Hall, J. B.Aebischer, D. P.Tomlinson, H. F., Osei-Amaning, E. and Hindle, J. R.. 1996. Vitellaria paradoxa: a monograph. Bangor: School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Publication No. 8.Google Scholar
Harlan, J. R. 1992. Crops and Man. Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy/Crop Science Society of America, second edition.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsch, E. 2001. ‘Making trade work for poor women’, Africa Recovery 15 (4): 6.Google Scholar
Howard, P. L. 2003. ‘Women and the plant world: an exploration’ in Howard, P. L. (ed.), Women and Plants. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Hyman, E. L. 1991. ‘A comparison of labor-saving technologies for processing shea nut butter in Mali’, World Development 19 (9): 1247–68.Google Scholar
Kater, L. J. M., Kante, S. and Budelman, A.. 1992. ‘Karité (Vitellaria paradoxa ) and néré (Parkia biglobosa ) associated with crops in South Mali’, Agroforestry Systems 18: 89–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, J. J. 1992. ‘The influence of karité (Vitellaria paradoxa ) and néré (Parkia biglobosa ) trees on sorghum production in Burkina Faso’, Agroforestry Systems 17: 97–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, J. J. and Geerling, C.. 1994. Profil environnemental du Burkina Faso . Wageningen: University of Agronomics.Google Scholar
Lewicki, T. 1974. West African Food in the Middle Ages . New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lovett, P. N. and Haq, N.. 2000. ‘Evidence for anthropic selection of the Sheanut tree (Vitellaria paradoxa )’, Agroforestry Systems 48: 273–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maranz, S. andWiesman, Z. 2003. ‘Evidence for indigenous selection and distribution of the shea tree, Vitellaria paradoxa, and its potential significance to prevailing parkland tree patterns in sub-Saharan Africa north of the equator’, Journal of Biogeography (10); 1505–16.Google Scholar
Martin, S. 1984. ‘Gender and innovation: farming, cooking and oil palm processing in the Ngwa region, south-eastern Nigeria, 1900–1930’, Journal of African History 25 (4): 411–27.Google Scholar
Massa, G. 1995. ‘Introduction’ in Massa, G. and Madiéga, Y. G.(eds), La Haute Volta Coloniale: témoignages, recherches, regards. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Masters, E. Personal communication, 8 July 2005, Ouagadougou.Google Scholar
Neumann, K.Kahlheber, S. and Uebel, D. 1998. ‘Remains of woody plants from Saouga, a mediaeval West African village’, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 7: 55–77.Google Scholar
ONAC (Office National du Commerce) Trade statistics, 1997–2001, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.Google Scholar
Park, M. 2000 [1799]. Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Pehaut, Y. 1976. Les Oléagineux dans les pays d'Afrique Occidentale associés au marché commun . Paris: É ditions Honoré Champion, 2 vols.Google Scholar
Pélissier, P. 1980. ‘L'arbre dans les paysages agraires de l'Afrique noire’, Cahiers ORSTOM, Série Sciences Humaines 17: 131–6.Google Scholar
ProKarité 2004. ‘ProKarité’. Accessed online 12 February 2006, at: http://www.prokarite.org/index-eng.html.Google Scholar
Roussel, B. andVerdeaux, F. ‘Natural patrimony and local communities in Ethiopia: advantages and limitations of a system of geographical indications’, in this issue.Google Scholar
Ruyssen, B. 1957. ‘Le karité au Soudan’, Agronomie Tropicale 12: 143–72, 279–306, 415–40.Google Scholar
Saul, M.,, Ouadba, J-M. and Bognounou, O. 2003. ‘The wild vegetation cover of western Burkina Faso: colonial policy and post-colonial development’ in Bassett, T. andCrummey, D. (eds), African Savannas : global narratives and local knowledge of envrionmental chang . Oxford and Portsmouth, NH: James Currey and Heinemann.Google Scholar
Schreckenberg, K. 1996. ‘Forests, Fields, and Markets: a study of indigenous tree productions in the woody savannahs of the Bassila region, Benin’. PhD dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Schreckenberg, K. 1999. ‘Products of a managed landscape: non-timber forest products in the parklands of the Bassila region, Benin’, Global Ecology and Biogeography 8 (3-4): 279–89.Google Scholar
Schreckenberg, K. 2004a. ‘The contribution of shea butter (V. paradoxa C.F. Gaertner) to livelihoods in Benin’ in Sunderland, T. and Ndoye, O. (eds), Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation: case studies on non-timber forest product systems. Bogor Barat, Indonesia: CIFOR.Google Scholar
Schreckenberg, K. 2004b. ‘Shea butter: from cooking fat to cosmetics and chocolate’ in Lopez, C. andShanley, P. (eds), Riches of the Forest: for health, life and spirit in Africa. SMK Desa Putera, Indonesia: CIFOR.Google Scholar
Seignobos, C. 1982. ‘Végétations anthropiques dans la zone soudano-sahélienne: la problématiques des parcs’, Revue de Géographie du Cameroun 1–23.Google Scholar
Terpend, M. N. 1982. La filiére karité: produit de cueillette, produit de luxe. Paris: Les dossiers faim-développement.Google Scholar
The Body Shop(TBS) 1997. Promotional literature in brochure form. London: TBS.Google Scholar
UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) ‘Information de marché dans le secteur des produits de base.’ Accessed online 12 February 2006, at: http://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/francais/karite/plan.htmGoogle Scholar
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women) 1997. Le karité, l'or blanc des africaines. Dakar, Sénégal : Bureau Régional de UNIFEM.Google Scholar
Wezel, A. and Haigis., J. 2000. ‘Farmers’ perception of vegetation changes in semi-arid Niger’, Land Degradation and Development 11 (6): 523–34.Google Scholar
World Bank 1989. ‘Burkina Faso’, in World Bank (ed.), Trends in Developing Economies. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar