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The five Ghana Living Standards Surveys so far conducted all indicate that poverty is quite severe and widespread in the entire Northern Ghana and among food crop farmers, yet many past interventions have failed to significantly address the situation. The main challenge had been the lack of viable and dependable cash crop in Northern Ghana. However shea nut (Vitellaria Paradoxa), a Non Timber Forest product which is currently among the top ten Non traditional Exports of Ghana appears to hold the promise of drastically reducing if not eliminating completely the high incidence of poverty in the three Northern Regions of Ghana. To this end there is the need for unconventional strategies such as the establishment of sheanut banks, and a separate shea nut development board to ensure that sheanut is used as a springboard for sustainable poverty reduction.The book could be a useful resource to development practitioners, the local government and international organizations interested in dealing with the perennial poverty situation in Northern Ghana .

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John Akuleme, Msc: Studied Development Planning and Management at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST): Coordinator of CEDEP Consultancy Services, Kumasi.

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