The returns from Shea nut processing help rural communities to meet the cash requirements of the rural households. The processing of Shea kernels into butter is mostly done traditionally; these methods are inefficient in terms of the amount and quality of butter extracted. This research works however tend to evaluates the profit potential of Shea nut processing in some communities of Bosso and Borgu LGAs of Niger state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study looked at the processing techniques, its

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... ofit potential and the constraints associated with the processing. Four communities were purposively selected from two LGAs of zone II and III of Niger state. A total sample size of one hundred and fifty three ( 153 ) processors were randomly selected to whom the structured questionnaires were administered, this represent 61.7% of the sample frame used for this study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression and budgetary technique. The study revealed that more than 90% of the respondents were women and more than 80% used traditional method of processing. The total revenue and net revenue accrued to the processing business of Shea nut were found to be N9, 879, 480.00 and N2, 754, 197.22 respectively for all the respondents per month. The net return was calculated to be N18, 001.29 per respondents per month. The regression estimates revealed R 2 value of (0.99) and F-value of (544.1848827). The coefficients of years of experience and total revenue were found to be positive and statistically significant at 5% and1% respectively while educational level and total costs of processing were negative and statistically significant at 5% and1% respectively. Some major problems faced by Shea nut processors were lack of mechanized processing equipments, drudgery associated with processing, poor access to credit and storage facilities. Effort to mitigate these problems entails the provision of simple, affordable, mechanized and adoptable processing equipments to reduce labour intensity and to ensure quality standard, provision of credit will boost processing efficiency, productivity and the income of the rural households involved in the processing of the Shea nut.