The Shea Nut Tree: A True Tree of Life
When asked what a tree of life is, the shea nut tree instantly comes to mind. In Northern Ghana, this tree forms the economic bedrock of many rural households, especially for women. It offers not just fruits in times of hunger, but also provides cooking oil, skin pomade, and a means to earn income. For countless women, the shea tree is the difference between scarcity and sustenance; it funds groceries, fuels small businesses, and pays for children’s education. That is why I call it a tree of life, a vital resource that must be protected and preserved to uplift rural women and combat poverty in their communities.
The shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) thrives in rural northern Ghana and across the Sudanese Sahel. But its significance goes beyond agriculture—it is a symbol of gender identity and cultural heritage1. From a young age, girls are taught to identify shea trees, gather the fallen nuts, and process them under the guidance of mothers and grandmothers. This generational transmission of knowledge transforms shea into more than a commodity— It becomes a generational lifeline, a heritage connecting women to shared memories and the resilience that defines their lives.
Today, shea is found in about 20 West African nations, with Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Benin, and Ghana leading global supply, according to the LMC report. It is a prized agricultural, industrial, household and heritage product. Shea butter, extracted from the nuts, is valued worldwide in cosmetics for its moisturizing, healing, and anti-aging properties. It softens dry hair, soothes the scalp, and protects against heat. In lip care, it heals and hydrates, while in foundations and concealers, it ensures smooth application. Its emollient nature also makes it ideal for massage balms and anti-inflammatory treatments.
Beyond cosmetics, the food industry values shea butter’s stearin—a natural fat—as a cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) in chocolate and margarine, offering both superior functionality and cost-effectiveness. Its olein and stearin components are equally important to pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries across Europe and Asia2.
Nutritionally, the shea fruit is rich in vitamins, potassium, and calcium, and is known to relieve stress, stomach ailments, and diarrhea. At the household level, shea butter is essential, used in local dishes, traditional medicine, and skin ointments. Ecologically, the shea tree also plays a crucial role in climate resilience. On smallholder farms, it coexists with crops in agroforestry systems, helping sequester carbon and improving soil health.
In many rural homes, shea butter remains a staple cooking oil. Its importance to rural women, international cosmetic firms, and human well-being makes it nothing short of a tree of life, worthy of protection and celebration.
Yet despite its immense value, the shea tree is increasingly under threat. Once common across villages in Northern Ghana, it is now disappearing. Where children once foraged for fallen fruits near home, there are now only houses. Trees that once stood proudly in built-up and farmland areas have been felled to make way for residential and agricultural activities. Harvesting, once a short walk, now demands hours of travel for women. The shea business—from harvesting to processing to trading—is predominantly run by women. Destroying the trees severs their economic lifeline.
Making matters worse is the shea tree’s slow growth. It takes around 15 years to flower, and doesn’t reach peak fruit production until it is 45 to 50 years old3. It is a patient grower, in tune with the rhythm of the land, bearing fruit from the end of the dry season into the rains. That longevity makes its destruction all the more tragic, as new plantings cannot replace the mature trees for decades.
For rural women, the shea tree represents much more than economic gain—it is survival, identity, and legacy. The shea value chain sustains generations, and its reach extends far beyond Ghana and Africa, supporting global industries and consumers.
Given its ecological, cultural, and economic significance, the shea tree deserves recognition as a UNESCO heritage tree—a global symbol of resilience, sustainability, and women’s empowerment. Its preservation is not only a local necessity but a global responsibility.
By: Huzeima Mahamadu and Ayisha Gunu Mohammed
References
- Elias, M., & Carney, J. (2007). African Shea Butter: A Feminized Subsidy from Nature. Africa, 77(1), 37–62. https://doi.org/10.3366/afr.2007.77.1.37 ↩︎
- Opoku – Mensah, S. (2023). An assessment of the structure of shea global value chain in Ghana and implication for policy development ↩︎
- Boffa, J.-M. (with FAO). (1999). Agroforestry parklands in sub-Saharan Africa. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ↩︎