As the world continues to grapple climate change and its effect on the socio-economic life of ordinary people, Nigeria is presented with a great opportunity to exploit the twin benefit of fighting desert encroachment and increasing the earning power of her citizens through massive investment in the cultivation of gum Arabic.
Gum arabic is a leguminous tree species that is well adapted to sudan and sahelian agro-ecology of Africa and it produces a natural gum made of hardened sap mostly taken from three species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal (Grade 1), Acacia seyal(Grade 2) and Combretum though the major Acacia utilized for commercial Gum Arabic production in Nigeria are Acacia Senegal and Acacia seyal.
Nigeria currently produces about 20,000 MT of gum Arabic annually ranking second in the world with Sudan as the leading producer and Chad after Nigeria as the third largest producer of the product whose world production as been estimated at 70,000 MT annually. From available data Africa produces about 98% of the world requirement of gum Arabic.
Gum Arabic is used as thickener, suspender, emulsifier, stabilizer, flavour carrier, binder and encapsulating material. In addition, it is used in confectionaries, food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and chemical industries.
Some of the producing states in Nigeria includes Adamawa,Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Gombe, Taraba, Plateau, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Nasarawa ,Niger and Zamfara. Though Borno and Yobe states are the major producers in Nigeria
Much has been said and written on the investment opportunity available in the trading of raw gum Arabic but the essence of this article is to stress the need for the processing of the product into refined Gum Arabic powder. The processing technique is quite simple; it involves the sorting, crushing, dispersion in water, purification, precipitation and separation.
It is a generally believe that Nigeria is not fully taking advantage of the large land available for the cultivation of the product, having little from the producing trees and at such, our production of about 20,000 MT annually is low compared to our potential. Perhaps the most neglected area is in the area of processing, most of the product are harvested and sold as a raw instead of adding value to the product before selling.
The country earned US$88.08 million in 2004 through the export of the raw form of the product whereas the country stands to gain US$5.00 for every one kilogramme of processed Gum Arabic.
A number of incentives have been put together to encourage investment in agriculture. These include;
o Finance Credit
o Tax Holdings
o Reduced Customs Charges on Imported Inputs
o Technical Support through Research Institutions
o Export Financing and Guarantee
o Agricultural Insurance Scheme
o Extension Services
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GUM ARABIC EXPORT IN NIGERIA; THE FEASIBILITY REPORT.
Product Name: GUM ARABIC PROCESSING IN NIGERIA, THE FEASIBILITY REPORT.
Product Code: FORA/2016/GUMARABICPROCESSINGINNIGERIA/9905-8748-4
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