The President National Shea Products Association of Nigeria (NASPAN), Mohammed Ahmed Kontagora, Tuesday, said the association has started the planting of 10 million Shea trees nationwide.
Speaking in Abuja during the 3rd Annual Shea Conference, Kontagora said the Niger state government has provided lands for the commencement of the tree planting project as the association hopes to export a million tones of Shea butter annually, beginning from 2024.
He said: “The Annual Shea Conference is a strategic initiative to bring stakeholders and partners together for regular reviews, agenda setting and resource mobilisation to ensure that we take advantage of our endowment, position the sector for performance, enlighten the investing public, promote best practices, develop collaboration, mainstream sustainability, integrate Shea resources into national economic transformation, benchmark global trends and optimise the performance of actors in the value chain.
“Our guests and members who attended the 2nd Annual Shea Conference will recall that we launched the Shea Parkland Afforestation and Reforestation Project (SPARE). Under this initiative, we have set a target to plant 10 million trees over 10 years beginning from 2021.
“I’m glad to report that the programme has taken off, as the Niger state government has scored another first in Shea development by releasing to our association a total of 3.8 square kilometres in Beji forest for this project.
“The governor flagged off the planting of Shea trees at the parkland on August 16, 2022, and the Niger state Ministry of Environment has made available 1,000 Shea tree seedling for planting on the site. As they say, a journey of a thousand years begins with a step.”
