Hajaratu Isah, 40, has been preparing shea nuts all her adult life, and says the government's new policy has left her, her family and other women in the community struggling to survive. She lives with 11 other people, including her six children, and has a recurring eye condition that requires regular medication.
"We are feeling hopeless. We cannot eat, we do not have money, and our children can no longer go to school," she says. Before the export ban, she earned up to 5,000 naira ($3.30; £2.45) a day, enough to cover school fees, which she paid daily, and her medicine. Now, her income has dropped to less than half that. |
