President of Upper East Regional House of Chiefs Naba Sigri Bewong, who is also a board member of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), has charged government to separate the Shea Butter Board from the Ghana Cocoa Board.

The Paramount Chief of Sekoti explained that the merger between the two boards is hampering holistic growth of shea butter business in the northern sector of Ghana.

According to the traditional ruler, government’s annual subvention to boost cocoa and shea butter is solely capitalised by the Cocoa Board, leaving insignificant funds for the support of shea butter production in the area.

He recalled that ever since the merger of the shea butter and cocoa boards to steer the development of the two industries in the three regions of the north, every facility provided by government to augment production – from farming, processing to the finished commodity – is mostly concentrated on cocoa by the Cocoa Board.

Naba Sigri Bewong pleaded with government to separate the two boards by setting up an individual board to steer the affairs of the shea butter industries in the region in order to steer growth of that industry.

He lamented indigenes in the shea butter business are losing interest due to the lack of support from government to boost their production.