Shea Network Ghana (SNG), an advocacy civil society organization has called for an amendment of the Forestry Commission Act, 1999 (Act 571) to cater for the protection and management of Non-Timber Forest Products particularly shea trees outside reserves in Ghana.
The organization which comprises of shea sector businesses, stakeholders and value chain actors believes that a proper legislative instrument will help boost the exploration of potentials of the sector. Under Act 571 of 1999, the Forestry Commission as a corporate body is mandated to regulate the utilization of forest and timber resources, manage forest reserves and protected areas and assist the private sector to implement the forest and wildlife policy to undertake the development of plantations.
According to Shea Network Ghana, there is the need for legislation to protect and manage shea trees including amendments.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East show on Monday, National Coordinator for Shea Network Ghana Iddi Zakaria noted that the shea sector is under a threat following the destruction of shea trees as a result of lack of appreciation of the value of shea trees, traditional believes and also the absence of a legislation to protect the shea tree.
Mr. Iddi Zakaria said “we know that shea grows in the wild and the argument that we are advancing is that why don’t you open up the forestry commission to protect timber and non-timber forest products like the shea, baobab and any other economic plant that is found in the wild. Forestry Commission should have the mandate to protect it. Currently if you cut down any timber species in the forest and forestry commission gets you, they will deal with you. So if you drive through major cities you will realize that there are reserved areas that nobody touches because there is a law. So our advocacy was that lets get Act 571 amended to include protection of timber species and other economic plants including shea.”
He further admonished the establishment of a SHEABOD to have an oversight responsibility over the shea sector in northern Ghana and better streamline and regulate activities of all stakeholders in the sector for a maximum exploration of the enormous potential of the sector.
The shea sector is currently under the COCOBOD as a unit but this according to him will not allow for the exploration of the sector because Cocoa board (COCOBOD) is currently under the Ministry of Finance while the dynamism of the shea sector falls both under ,Ministry of Food and Agriculture and also the Ministry of Environment. Mr. Zakaria added that the COCOBOD Act currently puts shea under Ministry of Finance which does not allow it the visibility to flourish.
“If we are able to bring a holistic entity like a SHEABOD which will operate from any of the capitals in the Northern Sector or even in Accra, what we want is that entity to address the issue of production, conservation and other areas including buying, marketing and pricing. If we are able to get this in place, we are going to have a boom in the sector” he said.
Nationally, shea contribution to Ghana’s annual exports stands at 60,000MT and local consumption is estimated at 10,000MT. An SNG 2013 report states that there are 11 large scale shea international factory investments located in the shea region which apart from creating employment for people of the area also feed end users with raw butter. It is estimated that the shea sector has the potential of realizing $2BN dollars annually if the fully explored.
By: Azongo Albert | A1RADIOONLINE.com | GHANA
