Siaka Doumbia started small and now has it all. Shea butter production in Mali has rapidly expanded, and with a little bit of international funding, export potential has never been better.
The global Shea butter industry is thriving, and a small co-operative in Mali has been at the heart of this growth. Production has more than quadrupled since Helvetas project co-ordinator Siaka Doumbia began farming the exclusive skincare product, and international exports have become a cornerstone of the business.
The production of organic Shea butter in Mali has seen a dramatic increase in the last few years, and this can be attributed to the quality of the organic product and its growing popularity on the international market. Some of Mali’s entrepreneurial women have taken advantage of this opening in the market and have formed a successful co-operative that has become a major organic Shea butter producer, thanks to the help of Swiss NGO Helvetas.
“Organic agriculture has many advantages compared to conventional agriculture. There are ecological benefits, such as the protection of the environment, and economical benefits – because the organic farmers get to unite in co-operatives, which has a positive effect on the local community and governance. It enables them to bring a high-quality product to both local and international markets,” explains Helvetas project co-ordinator Siaka Doumbia.
Slightly yellow or ivory in colour, the fat of Shea butter is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree and used in cosmetics as a moisturiser, salve or lotion. The women harvest the crops from trees that have been certified organic, and like the 22-woman co-operative in the village of Modena, they have managed to reap the rewards by sourcing wholly-organic produce. “We profit a lot from this co-operative, and because we are united, buyers know where to find us. Now we can sell the nuts to a processing company. With this, we earn money, more money because we have organic nuts,” says one woman who works at the co-operative.
The processing plant in the town of Buguni is also run by a co-operative. There, 17 women have been employed to transform the nuts into Shea butter that is sold both locally and exported to Europe. Each bag is carefully sorted and complies with the requirements of organic certification. The producers need to clearly indicate the source of the nuts and this allows the manufacturers to be able to track and source any issues later in the production line. First, the nuts are sorted and the best ones are taken out for processing. They are then cracked, dried and ground up into a buttery paste. This used to be done by hand, but thanks to Helvetas, the women are now able to buy machinery that does it for them.
“The production of the Shea butter is quite a difficult process. The machines make it a lot easier. They do a lot of the work that was otherwise done by the women manually. Now we can produce a lot more in this production facility, with all the equipment, which is owned by the women’s co-operative,” explains one of the processing workers. In fact, the machinery has helped them increase production so much that they nearly tripled the 6 tons of shea butter in 2009 to 16 tons in 2010, and for 2012 they have signed contracts to produce some 32 tons of Shea butter purely for export. Business has never felt smoother for this entrepreneurial initiative in the heart of Africa.
Siaka Doumbia started small and now has it all. Shea butter production in Mali has rapidly expanded, and with a little bit of international funding, export potential has never been better.