Nigeria prohibits the export of shea nuts used in beauty creams for six months

Nigeria has announced a six -month ban on the export of raw shea nuts, from which many beauty creams are made.

This move is intended to make the trade more in the midst, as Nigeria loses, not producing a lot of shea butter locally.

The country produces nearly 40% of the world’s annual harvest, but it represents only 1% of the global market of $ 6.5 billion ($ 4.8 billion in British pounds – Vice President of the situation, Kashim Shetima, described as “unacceptable”.

The collected fruit from the shea walnut trees must be greased, baked and cooked to extract their butter to obtain shea butter used in cosmetics.

The butter is also used in the food industry in the production of some sweets such as chocolate and ice cream – and in pharmaceuticals too.

Shito’s trees grow in wildlife from west to East Africa – a huge strip known as the “Shea Belt”. Small farmers, often women, also plant them in these areas.

Shetima said the temporary ban would allow Nigeria to move from an exporter of raw nuts to a global provider of shea refined products.

“” It is about industrialization, the transformation of rural areas, the gender authorization and the expansion of the global trade in Nigeria, “said the Vice President during a statement in the State House in the capital Abudja.

The short -term goal, he said, was to see Nigeria’s profit from the fruits of the shea walnut trees grow from $ 65 million to $ 300 million a year.

Nigeria Minister of Agriculture Abubacar Kyari said the West African nation produces a harvest of 350,000 tonnes per year – with nearly 25% of it disappearing above the borders in unregulated informal trade.

According to the agriculture expert Dr. Ahmed Ismail, much of the harvest comes from villages in Central Nigeria.

” Many poor people who raise the harvest and rely on it for feeding are struggling to cope due to lack of regulation, which means that they are so small, despite their high value in international terms, “said the academician at the BBC Federal University.

Farmers who are unaware of the true value of shea nuts are often exploited by businessmen traveling to these remote areas to buy it cheaply, he explained.

“I went to the village and saw shea nuts in piles and when I asked, they said that one of the city was coming to buy and take them away.”

Dr. Ismail said the temporary ban was a bold step that had to be taken for a long time-and should go hand in hand with better adjustment.

“This will not only provide more jobs at the local level, as refining will be done here, but it will also improve government income,” he said.