Bolgatanga, Oct 5, GNA - Operators in the shea nut industry have appealed to the government to come out with a shea nut policy to address problems facing the industry.

The stakeholders, comprising Civil Society Organizations and shea pickers and producers from the three northern regions, made the call at a Shea Multi-stakeholders Forum held in Bolgatanga. They are of the view that although there is a policy on shea nut, it i= s embedded under the Cocoa Board policy which does not give much attention to addressing issues affecting the shea nut industry. The programme, which was on the theme"Sustaining the Shea Industry-t= he need for a clear policy," culminated in the formation of a Shea Network Ghana. It aims to build Civil Society Organizations and farmer groups to advocate for greater investment in shea pickers and producers. The stakeholders said shea nut was a powerful tool that could be used to address poverty in the north and that it was high time government stoppe= d paying lip service to the sector. They said the industry engages over 900, 000 people, mainly women, and could still engage more if the government came out with clear policy issues to address problems in the sector. Dr. Atinga Mba, the Rector of the Bolgatanga Polytechnic and Mr. Coleman Agyeyomah, Director, Enceremos Business Ventures, said they were contracted by OXFAM to conduct a research in seven districts of three northern regions targeting civil societies. The research revealed that the government was reluctant to promote the shea industry because of the fear that it would take over cocoa on the international market.

The research also showed that one of the factors affecting the shea industry was the issue of certification and this is affecting its sale. Also, the research further revealed that shea pickers and producers ar= e exploited by middlemen especially the private sector. District Assemblies in the area do not put shea in their medium term development programme. The researchers suggested that the government should decouple the shea industry from the Cocoa Board and that the District Assemblies should also put shea production in their Medium Term Development Programme. Dr. Seidu Alhassan, Director of the Centre for Continuous Education an= d Interdisciplinary Research of the University for Development Studies, calle= d for a clear public policy on the sector. He appealed to the government to support scientific research that would help bring innovations to the sector to alleviate the laborious nature of the work. It should, in addition, assist women by providing them with loans, logistics such as Wellington boots and raincoats to enable them effectively collect the shea fruits.

Dr. Alhassan said the three northern regions could only pick and process 50 per cent of shea nuts and the rest are left to go waste. He said there was the need to resource the sector to maximize collection of the nuts and export the products to the international market where demand is high. Dr. Agnes Apusiga, a lecturer at the UDS, said the shea nut industry was more gender sensitive since majority of women are engaged in it and appeale= d to the government to make the industry more attractive by providing logistics. Mr. Joseph Sampana an official of the Export Development and Investmen= t Fund (EDIF) appealed to people operating in the shea nut sector to take advantage of opportunities under the EDIF to access credits and grants.