Mego Santa, the Chairperson of WALTEK Nile Shea Association giving a keynote address during the festival.
The Nilotica Shea Festival 2026 was held on Saturday, 30 May 2026 at Okere City in Otuke District, northern Uganda. The event, organized by Okere Shea Cooperative Society under the theme "Shea for Heritage, Healing and Hope," brought together 5,000 farmers, community leaders, government officials, development partners, private sector actors, and media on the occasion of World Shea Day 2026.
The day marked a historic milestone with the official launch of a state-of-the-art cold-press Nilotica shea butter processing factory at Okere City, equipped with German cold-press machinery and representing a transformational step toward positioning northern Uganda as a manufacturing powerhouse for Nilotica shea.
The festival brought together over ten organizations working across the Nilotica shea value chain and featured a high-level conference on unlocking the global potential of Nilotica shea, tree planting activities, a regenerative agriculture showcase, cultural performances, and a musical concert headlined by prominent Lango artists.
Key outcomes included commitments toward a Geographical Indication (GI) registration for Nilotica shea under the name WALTEK Nile Shea, the formation and growth of NiSA (Nilotica Shea Alliance), confirmation of the first international shipment of Okere shea to the USA, and joint pledges to intensify shea conservation across the greater northern Uganda shea belt.
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