UGPPK, Union of Shea Butter Producers, Burkina Faso

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"When we work together, we can help many people out of poverty. Above all, Fairtrade enables us help ourselves and to support each other."

Nana Diassome Mimouna Yago, shea butter producer & president of UGPPK 

Introduction

UGPPK © Cindy D'Auteuil

Background

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Landlocked Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. It has a GDP per capita of $1,266 compared to $36,523 in the UK (IMF 2008). About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, growing sorghum, millet, maize, and rice, and keeping livestock. Milk is produced and also exported to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Cotton is the main export cash crop followed by shea nuts, their export earnings subject to fluctuations in world commodity prices. Drought, poor soil, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a 22% literacy rate, and a stagnant economy are all longstanding problems in the country.

Shea butter industry

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Shea butter is made from shea nuts, the fruit of the shea tree which is only found in Africa. It is a resource of great nutritional and economic importance across 16 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Mali as well as Burkina Faso.

Traditional shea butter processing is done by village women who gather, boil and sun-dry the nuts before they are pounded and ground to a paste. The paste is mixed with water to separate the fat, which is then manually churned into creamy butter. Shea butter is used in Africa as a cooking fat and as a skin and hair treatment. In Europe it is mainly used by the food industry in chocolate, margarine, and confectionery products because of its low cost and effective emulsifying properties. It is increasingly being used in soaps, moisturisers, and other cosmetic products because of its high quality and exceptional characteristics and the growing demand in the cosmetics industry for natural products which don’t harm the environment.

The poor and inconsistent quality of shea butter production in producing countries is an obstacle to its development as an export commodity. Exports are therefore mainly in the form of shea nuts which multinationals purchase at a low price from intermediaries and process into shea butter in the importing country. As a result the primary producers lose out on the additional income from processing. UGPPK has overcome this thanks to the export-quality processing plant it operates.

Background to UGPPK

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The Union of Women Producers of Shea Products of Sissili and Ziro (UGPPK S/Z) is located in the Sissili and Ziro provinces, near the border with Ghana. It was set up to improve the position of women involved in shea butter production, most of whom are illiterate, and reduce poverty in the villages. It is commonly known as the Léo Union after the town where its headquarters are located.

Shea nuts play an important economic role in the region where they are the main source of income for women, the main participants in the industry. Some members are nut harvesters who gather, sort, wash and dry the nuts. Others are butter producers who harvest about a third of the nuts they need and buy the rest from harvesters. The nuts are collected from the bush or from trees in the cotton fields owned by the women’s husbands. The harvesters are mainly located in remote areas where cotton doesn‘t grow and there are few opportunities to earn cash. After making shea butter for their own use they sell the rest of the nuts locally for a very low price. Rather than selling nuts at a low price locally the union has set up a ‘warehousing’ system in which gatherers and butter producers can sell their nuts to the union for storage until the butter production cycle begins, when they can be bought back at cost on production of a receipt. Whether harvesters or butter producers, the women have equal status and influence in the union.

UGPPK was established in January 2001 as a union of 18 district producer groups, known as cadres. It has now grown to 55 groups from 38 villages, each group made of around nine smaller groups of producers, and represents more than 3,000 women producers. UGPPK is one of the three women’s organisations in Burkina Faso which are the leading producers and internationally marketers of shea butter. UGPPK has a high profile in the industry, with a presence at national and international trade fairs, and is a member of the industry body known as the ‘filière’, made up of producers, government ministries, NGOs, and traders. UGPPK gained organic certification in December 2007.

UGPPK’s strategy to increase the incomes of its members has several strands:

• Capacity building – increase the quality and quantity of shea butter produced by members
• Organise the effective marketing of the shea butter produced by the union 
• Access alternative higher-value international markets such as Fairtrade and organic.
  

The shea butter produced by women at village level is of the quality used domestically for cooking and making soap. The union operates processing units in five of the seven districts where it has members, where women can produce good quality butter and eliminate the hard physical labour. The processing machinery is paid for by a government rural development project and the union is responsible for constructing the buildings to house them. UGPPK employs an agricultural extension worker in five of the districts whose role includes training a member from each group to monitor quality and provide training to other members. To produce a product to organic and export quality standards, the butter is transported by cart to the union’s processing plant in Léo where it is purified, filtered and stored in hygienic metal drums. Soap is also made here for sale on the local market.

UGPPK and Fairtrade

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About Dradin, UGPPK manager, explains the wider social role the union plays and its contribution to changing the cultural status of women: “Fairtrade standards are a way to introduce transparency and good governance into the co-operatives, and this should be extended to civil society and the whole country. In this area, UGPPK is a role model in Burkina Faso.”

Traditionally, women of rural Burkina Faso are expected to stay at home. But because shea butter production generates income for the household, men are more willing to give their wives some freedom. The women of UGPPK use the union as a meeting place where they can enjoy social interaction and discuss their day-to-day problems. Abou Dradin says: “During the union’s General Assembly you will see women, even illiterate women, standing up and saying ‘I want to know what you do in the board’, and that is progress in our society.”

Thirty-two of the 55 district groups were Fairtrade certified in July 2006. Through Fairtrade, UGPPK has the opportunity reduce the number of intermediaries and trade directly with buyers. For Fairtrade sales, the union receives a guaranteed minimum price of €2640/tonne and pays members a price agreed by members at the General Assembly which is higher than for conventional sales. On top of this the union receives the Fairtrade premium of €185/tonne to invest in community projects agreed by members.

In 2007 Fairtrade sales accounted for 8 tonnes of shea butter. This was just 11.6% of the total production of 69 tonnes but was able to double the incomes of medium-size producers. Fairtrade and organic sales for 2008 are estimated to have grown to 30 tonnes, 30% of the 95 tonnes produced. With the extra income embers can now afford to pay school fees and buy medicines without relying on their husbands. Women often have to walk for long distances in their daily lives and most have now purchased bikes. One woman half-joked that if Fairtrade sales continue to grow ‘we will all have our own motorbike!’

With the UK launch of Fairtrade cosmetics in spring 2009, shea butter from UGPPK will be available as an ingredient in Fairtrade products such as body butter, body scrub, lip balm, and shaving oil.

Use of the Fairtrade premium

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The premium has been used to part-fund two buildings to house processing units. Four more units are planned for 2009, the priority being to locate them in districts which don’t yet have access to one.

School equipment has been provided for an orphanage and the education expenses of the son of a recently deceased member have been paid.

Carts have been purchased for use by women who have to collect nuts 10-20 km away and wouldn’t otherwise be able to deliver them. UGPPK participates in a government-funded project to promote basic food processing and handicrafts in community based facilities for which it has built warehouses for two of the facilities.

The premium is earmarked to extend a literacy programme and take over the long-term funding of a children’s day-care and playground project, currently funded by L’Occitane, the union’s main buyer. The union also intends to build more warehouses for the nut storage scheme.

As to the future, members see Fairtrade as a great opportunity to improve livelihoods and develop their communities and are therefore very keen to attract more buyers and increase Fairtrade sales.