• 401,638

• Seedlings Raised

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED PLANTING MATERIALS

• 2 New Projects Launched

Financing for research and development of improved planting materials in the shea sector remains a challenge. In 2021, the GSA in partnership with the European Union, Global Alliance against Climate Change (GCCA+) – Intra ACP program, the Raw Materials Research Development Commission (RMRDC) and private sector partners implemented a shea agroforestry farm model to research and propose a win-win model for shea and agriculture, as a deterrent to tree cutting on farms. Two shea climate-resilient farms were set up in Oyo and Niger states of Nigeria where 1,500 women shea collectors have been trained on climate resilient practices such as technical crop set-up, organic compositing, beekeeping and conservation. On the two farms, 12 crops including rice, maize, orange-fleshed potatoes, soyabean, melon and pepper were grown by the women beneficiaries yielding over 1,500kg of produce – which have been harvested and sold. At the end of the project, the GSA will conduct an economic and environmental impact evaluation against the baseline study that was done before project commencement. Learnings from the model farms will be shared with industry for replication

“ Before these trainings, we were not interested in planting trees because we knew we will be dead before they start bearing fruit. But now that we have learnt how to graft, we will also benefit from these fruits.”
-Ferteïssi Soulama, Soubakaniédougou, Burkina Faso