Local shea butter industry to be enhanced

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with Africa 2000 Network on Friday held a stakeholders' workshop to empower rural women in northern Ghana to boost the local shea butter industry.

The project beneficiaries would be trained under the Local Level Integrated Information System (LIIS), a component of the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Project (SRLP) of the UNDP.

Mr Shigeki Komatsubara, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ghana, said LIIS was the model for providing information services to local shea butter producers.

“Information services are critical especially for communities which are taking control of their own development using an assets-based approach to achieve sustainable livelihoods.”

Mr Komatsubara said the LIIS was a framework that aimed at addressing development information, knowledge access and communication needs within the context of efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the community level.

He said Ghana's LIIS model also considered the development of an information exchange platform using the Development Information Portal.

“The portal is expected to provide a one-stop shop for obtaining development information packaged to enhance rural development implementation of Community Action Plans (CAPs).”

Mr Komatsubara said the workshop was to share the projects concept and benefit from experience of others.

Mrs Christy Ahenkora-Banya, head of SRLP unit UNDP, Ghana, said the project would identify the marketable quality of shea butter and set up the ideal production environment for local women's producer groups.

She said it would explore new markets for shea butter sales promotion, provide business management skills for local women's producer groups and transmit production skills among local women processors in a coordinated way.

Mrs Ahenkora-Banya said the ultimate outcome was to empower women and alleviate their acute poverty in northern Ghana through enhancing the viability of the local shea butter industry as sustainable business.

The Africa 2000 Network, the implementing partner, would be responsible for the transmission of skills and knowledge in shea butter production among local processors when the project is rolled out.