A study on how the creation of new value chains for Shea butter production influences the livelihood of rural women in a climate change situation in Northern Ghana

Due to climate change, changes in the weather conditions of the three northern regions of Ghana has led to a decline in food production and worsening of the already precarious situation of these regions there by exacerbating the susceptibility of the already marginalised rural people who in most cases are women and children. Alternative means are therefore sorted for as a means of livelihood and the most reliable and available for women in this area of study is Shea butter production and for that matter their engagement in the Shea value chains. This study is therefore concerned with the issues surrounding the structure, the dynamics of value chains for Shea butter production in Northern Ghana and the actors involved in this process and how that relationship influences the livelihoods of rural women. The results showed that the rural women were at the base of the value chain for Shea butter production although they contributed significantly in the commencement of the value chains, they were not integrated upward apparently because they lacked the capacity to handle issues of logistics. Income generated from Shea however provided women the opportunity to earn wages which projected their status in society leading to a renegotiation of the role of the wife in the house hold and subsequently leading to a change in gender norms and perceptions. In their bid to protect Shea trees for annual assurance of production of Shea butter, they contributed to forest conservation leaving many more trees in the parklands and planting ‘neem’ trees as an alternative source of fuel wood and subsequently contributing to mitigating the impact of climate change unconsciously. I examined the value chains, who the actors of these chains are, and try to draw the connection between the new value chains for Shea and the actors involved in the chain and subsequently showed how such dynamics of inclusion and exclusion of women in such value chains affect rural women’s livelihoods and the extent to which the outcome of that relationship mitigate the impacts of climate change in the area. I must emphasis that although both sexes use, value and protect Shea trees in the area of study, finding showed that the Shea industry is a female heritage and it is recognized as such in this area. However the proliferation of industries in the Shea industry may as well seem a threat to women’s position in these chains.