Shea Unit to halt shea tree cutting

The Shea Unit, a wing of the Ghana Cocoa Board, has initiated measures that would halt the continuous cutting of shea trees to help increase and sustain the number of the trees for economic advantage.

Mr Vincent Anchirinah, Head of the Shea Unit of the Ghana Cocoa Board, who disclosed this at a consultative workshop in Tamale, said it was regrettable that the continuous cutting down of shea trees by developers and farmers for firewood was causing serious economic loss to the nation.

Mr Anchirinah said the Unit was gathering views and opinions from diverse sectors, including farmers, industry players and communities, about the best way to stop the cutting down of shea trees, cautioning that those found culpable would be sanctioned.

“There is the need for the country to develop concrete policies to assist in mainstreaming the shea tree so that the country will continue to derive the needed revenue from it,” he said.

Mr Anchirinah appealed to residents of the three northern regions, where shea trees were mostly found, to guard against cutting down of the trees, pointing out that “because the shea tree is being cut down, efforts to set up a separate board for shea is being delayed.”

He said the export value of shea had grown from 10 million dollars in 2000 to over 120 million dollars in 2011, an achievement which, he said, had gained the needed attention making it capable of competing with the cocoa industry.

He said the shea tree takes between 20 and 40 years to bear fruits and has a life-span of 200 years, stressing that when the tree is cut down it deprived generations of the opportunity of utilising it.

Mr Anchirinah complained about the poor organization of producers and marketers and that with the development of models, their business entities would become viable.