This Issue Contains:
SHEA BUTTER TRADE
NEW BOOK OF INTEREST
AFRICA ISSUES
FAIR TRADE ISSUES

SHEA BUTTER TRADE
Shea butter has a long history of commercialization. It has been traded within and outside West Africa for many centuries. Records from the Middle Ages document the trading of shea butter across the Sahel (the savanna regions of West & Central Africa) and into the coastal regions. There are even references to shea butter in Egyptian documents dating back to 50 B.C. In addition, the trading of shea butter was not limited to Africa. As early as the 1700s, shea butter was one of many tropical oils traded in European and even Brazilian markets.

The presence of shea butter in local and global markets has had an impact on the economy and society of the savanna regions. Not only is shea a major factor in the cultures of the people of this region, but it was also the impetus for foreign interest and interference in these regions. For example, the commercial potential of shea was a main motivation behind English colonial occupation of northern Ghana (Ferguson cited in Chalfin, 2004 see below). Chalfin (2004) also argues that patterns of government involvement in the savanna regions mirror their involvement in the international shea trade.

Almost all shea traded in the international markets ends up as a key ingredient in chocolate. Although it has also been used in a wide variety of goods, including soap, candles, animal feed, margarine and so one, its use as a cocoa butter substitute is by far the largest. Shea has only recently entered the cosmetics market, where it is "bought, sold, refined, and concocted by a spectrum of companies and concerns."

Shea butter has now become a buzz word and can be found in a range of personal care products - from large, multinational companies to home businesses. In any case, the marketing focuses not only on the curative and beneficial properties of shea butter, but also on its source, romanticizing the "village producer" and exaggerating the benefits they receive.

Shea butter is a wonderful natural resource and does have the potential to help alleviate poverty in the West African savanna regions. However, there is also great potential for exploitation, since most traditional shea butter producers do not have access to market information as to the appropriate value of their commodity. Therefore, it is important to know where the shea butter one purchases comes from and that those involved have received fair prices.

NEW BOOK OF INTEREST
Shea Butter Republic: State power, global markets, and the making of an indigenous commodity by Brenda Chaffin (2004, published by Routledge).

Those of you interested in the history of shea and trends in tropical commodification, cosmopolitan consumption, global economic restructuring, and rural livelihoods may want to read this book. Brenda Chaffin uses ethnography, life histories and archival accounts to show how rural women in northern Ghana respond to changes and opportunities caused by national governments and global institutions. We will be discussing some of the issues this book discusses in subsequent newsletters.

AFRICA ISSUES
Darfur: No Improvement The situation in the Darfur region of Sudan has not improved, and the United Nations is withdrawing some staff from Nyala in Sudan's Darfur region because authorities are preventing them from doing their work. You can help by urging your government representatives to take this issue seriously. Also, visit the Save Darfur Coalition (www.savedarfur.org) to make a donation and learn more about what you can do to help.

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to African Woman: The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 64-year-old Kenyan Wangari Maathai, an African environmentalist and human rights campaigner. The Nobel Foundation awarded the prize in recognition of 'her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace'. Wangari is the first African woman to be awarded the peace prize since it was created in 1901. You can read more about Wangari Maathai and her contributions at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3726024.stm

FAIR TRADE ISSUES
How important is Fair Trade? In a recent interview with BBC's Analysis, Fisseha Adugna, Ethiopia's ambassador to London, estimated that Ethiopia lost around $900 million from unfair coffee trading in the last five years. His view is that fair trade would do much more to help African nations than aid money.

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Copyright 2004-2005 Agbanga Karite Group

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