Opportunities and challenges in the improvement of the shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) resource and its management

Commonly known as the shea tree (karité in French), Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn., was cited three decades ago as the second most important oil crop in Africa after oil palm by Poulsen (1981, cited in Hall et al., 1996) and is probably the most economically and culturally important tree species in the Sudano- Sahelian region of Africa where oil palm does not grow. Across the distribution area, the estimated actual number of productive trees and the estimated potential number of shea trees ranges from several hundred million (Lovett, 2004) to a couple of billion, respectively (Naughton et al., 2014), making it one of the largest tree population size of an economic tree species in the region. The dried kernel of the fruit is used to produce oil or fat (shea butter) for local consumption and is commercially sold as an ingredient in cosmetic, pharmaceutical and edible products. Shea was reported as a traded commodity by the Arab traveller, Ibn Battuta as early as the 14th century; the magnitude of its distribution and local importance caught the attention of early explorers such as Mungo Park in 1798 (Park, 2000) and has been a subject of research since colonial times (Chevalier, 1948; Ruyssen, 1957). Shea is estimated to be the primary edible oil for more than 80 million rural people (Naughton, 2014).

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