Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

According to the World Health Organization, three billion people around the world cook their food and heat their homes with open fires and solid biomass fuels. This system of cooking negatively affects the health, environment, and livelihoods of those in low and middle-income countries without access to reliable and sustainable energy.

Shea is a growing multi-billion-dollar industry, and some 3 million women across West Africa depend on shea butter for their livelihood. Most of these women live in extreme poverty, and the roasting process has a high environmental cost.

The roasting stage of the shea process is crying out for a solution. Existing methods are not optimized for production, impose significant health burdens, and contribute to unsustainable harvesting that degrades parklands and landscapes. Climate change and growing demand for lumber and fuel have affected the shea tree’s life cycle and productivity, threatening the women who depend upon their fruits for survival. It is also one of the few crops that directly benefit women. Unfortunately, the demands are devasting the shea parklands. Around 8 million trees are lost every year, and we are at risk of demand outstripping supply in the next 20 years. Shea trees need to be protected to ensure the availability of shea nuts for future generations.

Our improved roaster project begins in Ghana. Ghana lost more than 500,000 hectares of forest cover between 2001 and 2013. This is one of the highest deforestation rates in West Africa, and the country's forests could completely disappear in less than 25 years. If this widespread deforestation continues, irreplaceable habitats, watersheds, and traditional cultures will be lost forever. The shea tree is one of the most important multi-purpose trees in West and Central Africa. It grows in the dry savannah belt where other trees cannot grow due to low rainfall. Shea trees are a vital social and economic crop and are a primary source of nutrition and income for hundreds of thousands of families. Our work supports the Global Shea Alliance’s Action for Shea Parklands initiative to protect 4 million hectares of African parkland by 2030.

Shea trees are vital in maintaining local wildlife populations, and shea is a food source for fruit-eating wildlife, including birds and mammals. And the biodiversity of shea parklands must be protected. Supporting pollinators and diverse plant
communities in shea parklands has secondary benefits as most of the trees and shrubs there benefit from pollination,
including other fruit crops and species that are important for maintaining soil fertility. Studies have shown that more
biodiverse parklands support more pollinators, which makes crops more productive -- benefitting local peoples' livelihoods and well-being.

Some other 'improved' shea roasters are on the market, but these do not attempt to address the same challenges as BDL. The research consensus is that most roasters available do not address the primary complaints/problems, i.e., eliminating smoke/PM2.5 exposure, addressing safety concerns such as burns, and reliance on inconsistent electricity or utilizing too
much fuel.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

By 2027, the project will be saving 13,888 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year. The improved shea roaster boasts a 97% reduction in wood fuel use when switching over to shea cake as the primary source of fuel. Due to the reduced carbon content in shea cake compared to wood and BDL's design optimized for its usage, BDL's roaster can save upwards of 0.77 metric tons of eCO2 per metric ton of butter produced.

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The approximately 3 million African women who work in the shea industry yet still live in extreme poverty will benefit significantly from an improved roaster. The improved roaster will better their health, reduce the time spent gathering wood or the costs spent bringing wood into their communities, and eliminate the current ergonomic issues associated with roasting. 

Shea processing cooperatives will benefit from an improved roaster as well, as it will save time gathering wood, save money spent on fuel, and increase employee happiness. The final beneficiary of the proposed grant work is the local manufacturer. The proposed work will require prototyping and eventual large-scale production in-country. This will employ small craftsmen and large manufacturers, creating work and jobs for more Ghanaians and manufacturers in other shea belt countries within the next five years. Field research confirmed that women roasting with current technology complain universally about smoke exposure. Many women are of childbearing age or mothers whose children remain nearby while they roast. The devastating impacts of smoke exposure are well established. Still, hearing first-hand complaints of chest pain, teary eyes, and loss of visibility for multiple days emphasize the need for an improved roaster.

The shea belt in West Africa, and particularly the shea value chain, are at particular risk from climate change, threatening the livelihood of millions.

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