admin | September 11, 2025
News Brief
Communities near Ghana’s Mole National Park are planting fast-growing acacia trees to protect valuable shea trees and support livelihoods. In Mognori and Yazori, about 300 people, 60 percent of them women, have planted over 53,000 Gum Arabic and Paperback Thorn seedlings on 158 hectares with support from IUCN and A Rocha Ghana. The trees provide firewood, improve soil, and attract bees. Women can now sell acacia wood while leaving shea trees for butter production, helping safeguard a resource that sustains millions and underpins Ghana’s 2.75 billion dollar shea industry.
As demand for charcoal and firewood threatens Ghana’s shea trees, communities near Mole National Park are turning to fast-growing alternatives to protect both the trees and their livelihoods.
In the towns of Mognori and Yazori, about 300 people, 60% of them women, are planting Gum Arabic (Vachellia nilotica) and Paperback Thorn (Vachellia sieberiana) trees. These acacia species grow quickly, withstand drought, and regenerate after being cut, making them suitable substitutes for fuelwood. With support from IUCN and A Rocha Ghana, residents have planted more than 53,000 seedlings on 158 hectares of land.
For women, who traditionally take leading roles in harvesting and trading shea nuts and butter, the project has clear benefits. Abdulai Mariama, from Yazori, says, “Women can now depend on acacia trees for firewood instead of cutting indigenous species like shea trees, which are of a high economic value. We can harvest and sell the acacia wood as firewood to earn income while reserving shea trees only for their butter.”
Shea trees are vital to rural economies. Across Africa, about 16 million women depend on shea for their livelihoods. Ghana is one of the world’s largest exporters of shea nuts and butter, with the global market estimated at $2.75 billion in 2023 and projected to double in the next decade. But shea trees face serious threats from deforestation, climate change, and logging for fuel. Between 2000 and 2023, Ghana lost nearly a quarter of its tree cover, including significant areas of shea.
Community members say the new trees not only provide firewood, but also act as windbreaks, improve soil fertility, and attract bees through their nectar. They are also highly resistant to wildfires, creating protective “green belts” that safeguard restoration areas. Abukari Alhassan of the West African Center for Shea Innovation and Research says, “In a country where communities depend on traditional medicine, the medicinal properties of this species could make it the most desirable.”
Still, acacia wood has drawbacks. It produces lighter charcoal than shea, which is prized for cooking and brewing local beer. Shea trees also store more carbon, reinforcing the need to preserve them as an environmental good. To reduce pressure on shea, communities are also planting other species, including Dawadawa, African mahogany, Afzelia, and African rosewood.
Godwin Evenyo Dzekoto of A Rocha Ghana says these trees will help establish agroforestry systems that protect shea in the long term. But women still depend on project support to pay for seedlings and replace trees once cut. Researchers at the University for Development Studies are assessing the project’s impact, with results expected later this year.
For now, women say the project is already making a difference—providing fuelwood close to home, extra income, and a better chance to protect the shea trees that sustain their communities.
This story is based on an article written by Ange Banouwin for Mongabay, titled “Women in Ghana plant ‘diversion’ trees to protect shea trees and their livelihoods.” To read the full story, go to : news.mongabay.com/2025/03/women-in-ghana-plant-diversion-trees-to-protect-shea-trees-and-their-livelihoods/