Shea tree

Shea butter is rendered from the tree’s seeds – and Nigeria gathers more shea nuts than any other country.

The shea tree is a savanna tree growing to 10–15 m, with thick, corky, fire-resistant bark and leathery leaves clustered at the branch tips. It flowers in the dry season with creamy, fragrant blossoms, and its fruit is a green berry with sweet flesh and a large, oily seed. Dried, roasted, ground and kneaded with water, the seeds yield shea butter. The trees grow wild, and farmers leave them standing in their fields because they only start bearing fruit after anything from ten to several dozen years.

Significance in the country

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of shea nuts; gathering and processing them is traditionally women’s work in the north and the central belt. The butter is used for cooking, skin and hair care and in folk medicine.

Where it grows

The savannas of the central belt and the north – most of all in Niger, Kwara and Kebbi states, and also in Oyo (northern part), Kogi, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Benue, Taraba and Adamawa.

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