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【西非漫谈】乳木果种植:马里妇女的谋生之道
【西非漫谈】2023年第5期,总第72期。作者:电子科技大学西非研究中心团队;执笔人:Ogunja Shiundu Mirriam(电子科技大学西非研究中心团队成员);译者:曾佳锐(外国语学院);校对:洪菱(外国语学院);整理:孟雅琪、余曼靖(公共管理学院);供稿:电子科技大学西非研究中心团队。
SHEA NUT CULTIVATION: A WAY OF LIVELIHOOD FOR MALIAN WOMEN BY OGUNJA SHIUNDU MIRRIAM
REPUBLIC OF MALI
Mali is a landlocked country in Western Africa shares a border with Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d’Ivoire on the south, Guinea to the south-west, Senegal and Mauritania to the west, and Algeria to the north. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over 1,241,238 square kilometers (479,245 sq mi). It forms part of the G5 Sahel countries which include; Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. The Sahel region is full of potentials which makes this area a land of opportunity: Human capital, natural resources, renewable energy potential… However, several factors still hinder its development: Chronic insecurity, a lack of economic prospects, unemployment, poor access to education and essential services such as water and electricity. Climate change is weakening the region even more.
Figure 1. Map of Mali (Source: BBC)
Political Situation
Mali has been experiencing instability and conflict since the 2012 military coup and the occupation of the north by armed groups. The operations of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) dates back to July 2014. At its Ordinary Summit held on July 3, 2022 in Accra, ECOWAS Heads of State decided to lift the financial and trade sanctions imposed on Mali and accepted the date proposed by the transition government for a return to civilian rule in March 2024. China’s representative encouraged the international community to support Mali in their efforts in countering terrorism, maintaining stability and protecting civilians through increased funding, equipment, intelligence and logistical assistance.
Following consultations between the government, political parties and civil society held in Bamako on June 28, 2022, a detailed timetable for reforms and for legislative and presidential elections was adopted. The first and second rounds of the presidential election will take place in February 2024. The first and second rounds of legislative elections are scheduled for October and November 2023. A constitutional referendum had been planned for March 2023 before being postponed indefinitely by the government. Local elections are to take place in June 2023.
Mali’s Economic Overview (2023)
Mali’s GDP fall to 2.1% in 2022. However, growth should bounce back to 5.4% in 2023, sustained by recoveries in cotton output (25.5%), in cereals (5.5%) and in gold (5.6%), combined with favorable global prices. Inflation is expected to strongly rise to 7.8% in 2022 due to the embargo and the Russia–Ukraine conflict but should fall to 3.1% in 2023 alongside an increase in cereal production, a fall in petroleum-product prices, a drop in the taxable base of 50% on imported foodstuffs, and the setting of maximum price limits. Budget consolidation will allow for a decline in the deficit to 4.4% of GDP in 2022 and 3.5% in 2023 driven by tax reforms and spending rationalization. Public debt is expected to slightly grow to 52.9% of GDP in 2022 and 53.0% in 2023. From 2023, domestic debt is expected to surpass foreign debt, raising concerns about sustainability and a potential crowding effect on business access to credit. The embargo imposed on the country, political instability, worsening security, the Russia–Ukraine conflict, and Covid 19 pandemic are some of the major risks to the outlook. However, economic and trade alliances with new economic partners, predominantly China, will likely benefit the country.
The Shea Nut Sector in Mali: A domain of women
The shea fruit is a nut with a thin and brittle shell, surrounded by 55% pulp. The nut contains one or two kernels, comprised of up to 50% fat, from which the shea butter is extracted. Shea butter is a mainstay diet of rural populations in the Sahel region, the main source of vegetable fat. Consequently, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso account for 90% of the worldwide production of shea butter. Interestingly, Mali is the world's second-largest producer of the shea nut behind Nigeria and accounts for approximately 20 percent of the global supply of shea. Approximately half of the production is exported abroad to manufacture chocolate, where it is especially used as a cocoa butter equivalent in cosmetics and in the food industry and is therefore well known globally.
Figure 2. Local she nut farmers (Source: IFC).
Figure 3. Fruit of the shea tree (Source: Ousmane, 2023).
Cooking oil, skin moistener, hair conditioner, soap, medicine, and edible fruit are among the many uses of shea. Shea trees only grow in a few areas in subSaharan Africa. Due to its extraordinary characteristics, for thousands of years it has been strictly forbidden to cut down the shea tree.
Over 95 percent of shea nut producers are women. This is to say the shea resource is the domain of women and girls who control the revenues from the sale of shea butter. The revenues are a key source of livelihood as it helps them pay school fees for their children and other household expenses such as medicines, schoolbooks and clothes.
Figure 4. Woman mixing shea nut paste (Source: Ousmane, 2023).
Figure 5. Woman cooks the shea nut paste to extract the oil (Source: Ousmane, 2023).
Figure 6. Women work together to filter oil extracted from shea nut (Source: Ousmane, 2023).
In addition, Shea butter production being a woman’s identity marker is a way rural women cement their social ties. High butter quality is a source of recognition and good reputation for them. Shea has particular socio-cultural values to women as they use it during pregnancy and on newborn babies, and is offered as a gift from women to women to celebrate marriage, births or for dowries. It is also used for lamps used on graves and in funeral processions.
The Mali Shi factory founded in 2019, the first industrial shea nut processing unit in Mali, has financed the establishment of unions, in partnership with the World Bank, UN Women and the Global Shea Alliance that train women in accounting management, marketing and commercial negotiation. The factory since its inception has proved beneficial to these women. In some areas, this support has seen an increase in the volume and quality of nuts harvested from one year to the next. Also, Mali Shi has a dedicated supply chain team, consisting of area managers and field agents who work closely with the women and their organizations. To secure the supply chain, contracts are signed with all partner organizations, agreeing on fixed quantities and prices. This is often the only sustainable source of income for the women partners of the factory. The wastes are also recycled for post collection processing.
However, lack of sufficient support, poor technology and a lack of modernization of the whole she nut value chain are some of the challenges faced alongside funding which is not enough at this stage. To conclude, if more economic trade partners can come in would go a long way in saving this lucrative business for the women of Mali.
REFERENCE:
1) United States Agency for International Development, USAID.
2) https://www.ifc.org/
3) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa
4) World Bank data - World Development Indicators 2023