Vice President Prof Jane Opoku Agyemang open three day Shea Expo 2026, in Tamale

Vice President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang says the time has come for the country to build a reputation for its agricultural communities from their raw state to value addition in order to realize more revenue for the country through export.

She at the heart of realizing such dream is for Ghana to ensure that commodities such as shea are not exported in its raw form, but undergo

The Vice President said this in her remarks when she graced the opening the third World Shea Expo 2026 in tamale on Tuesday.

The 2026 edition of the Shea Expo, which is by far, the largest multi-stakeholder event within the shea sector is being held under the theme: “from local commodity to global grand; accelerating women and youth- led value addition in shea.”

The three-day event bring together actors in the Shea value chain including women pickers/processors, buyers, exporters and investors as well as financial institutions, policy makers, researchers among others.

According to the Vice President Opoku-Agyemang, Shea, beyond being a tree crop has supported generations of families up-north and it’s now time to ensure that women and youth who have palyed a significant role in its production are given the necessary support in order to reap the exponential benefits.

“One needs to broaden our understanding of agriculture including the ideas of the young people, and turning their skills into something mre creative and productive. In areas of research, where knowledge developed on academic campuses, the goal must be to reach the ground and communities in order that our people can be lifted out of poverty,” she remarked.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said on its part, Government has the responsibility to build an ecosystem that brings all the parts and fusions together to ensuring that the nation derives maximum benefits from the shea industry.

Recounting past experiences while conducting Academic research across northern Ghana, the vice president, acknowledged with excitement the gradual transformation that has taken place over the years; from situations where women processors undertook the tedious works as shea pickers and processors and now in some cases, becoming Chief executives of agri-prenuer enterprises and large shea companies that are women led.

She said apart from putting in measures to fully roll out the Women’s Development Bank, the country has also secured funding to build the capacity of actors in the shea industry and thereby rallied all stakeholders to work together to realize such vision through partnership, research collaboration, financing among others.

“Let us build an industry that does justice to the environment through avoiding land degradation, uncontrolled bush fires and climate change and by also ensuring justice through fair pricing and good returns for our women in the shea value chain,” she stated.

The Director for Presidential Initiatives in Agric and Agribusiness at the presidency, Dr. Peter Otokunor in an address said shea is a strategic national asset and under the reset agenda, the Mahama Government is ensuring that women and youth are not left as bystanders, but are given the relevant push to occupying their space within te shea value chain.

He explained the thorugh the Shea Expo for example, his office was showcasing potentials in Ghana which has been ranked the top producer of shea.

“Through important platforms such as these, we seek to also showcase Ghana’s shea quality and capacity through the expo,” he stated adding that “it is a platform to celebrate the contribution of women in the sector and create and deepen participation.”

Dr. Otokunor said the target for the years ahead is to increase value realized from the export of shea through value addition from 350 million dollars to 650 million dollars. He said the Buipe Shea Fatory is back on stream and its hope that with other private sector investments would complement the growth and sustainability agenda of the shea industry.

Alhaji Imoro Alhassan, from the Savanna Golden Tree Ltd, commended the government for fulfilling its promise to procuring and distributing some 20,000 wellington boots and other PPEs to the women shea pickers, as a result, there has been no incident of snake bites while on the shea fields.

The Northern Regional Minister Adolf Ali John who welcome the gathering to the shea Expo said the shea commodity is embedded in the social and economic life of the people adding that the region is also at the heart of the shea production belt hence, the excitement that the expo will help address some of the major huddles that have bedeviled the sector.

During the three-days Shea Expo, which is taking place alongside an exhibition, technical presentations, investment forum and quality standard training and sustainability practices, the organizers are hoping that the platform would increase investments in the shea space and empowering over 200 SMEs.

Early on her arrival, Vice President Opoku Agyemang and her entourage including Education Minister and Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu and the Kenyan High Commissioner to Ghana where at the John Mahama Shea Demonstration farm at Futa in Tamale South, where they planted improved shea variety with its gestation period reduced from 30 year to three year through research undertaking by the University for Development Studies.

The vice president also toured the Nuts for Growth limited at Dunyin along the Salaga road, which is the largest shea processing factory in the country.

Story By: Nelson Adanuti Nyadror |www.diamondfmonline.com |Ghana.