“Mobilization and capacity-building for small and medium-scale enterprises
involved in the non-wood forest products value chains in Central Africa”
This policy brief assesses the potential and production of natural stands of gum Arabic trees and presents the socio-economic context of the
species’ value chain in the North and Far-North regions of Cameroon, carried out by Dr Mama Ntoupka and Dr Charles Njomaha of IRA under
the supervision of SNV. It analyzes the production, marketing and consumption of gum Arabic in order to assess its existing potential and
importance for households.
Policy Brief No. 4 (January 2010)
Recommendations
1-
Organise the gum value chain so that exports should be
handled by Cameroonian actors to avoid lost earnings when
exports are handled by Nigerians;
2-
Support the drafting and application for approval of a
community forest management agreement by the population
living around large natural plant concentrations;
3-
Put in place community forests and integrate gum Arabic in
food cropping systems.
4-
Promote research and educate the population on improved
planting and harvesting techniques;
5-
Organise collectors in common initiative groups (CIG) or
associations to resolve common problems and develop local
processing or semi-processing plants;
6-
Consider establishing plantations on marginal lands (dune
soils) and reflect on the land allocation system;
1. Introduction
The strong presence of gum Arabic trees in the SudanoSahelian zone of Cameroon means that the development and
best value of gum Arabic – an exudate considered as a NWFP
obtained from this species – should become a priority in the
North and Far-North Regions of Cameroon. In fact, gum-related
activities carried out by women represent up to 38-40% of the
net global income derived from their activities which ranges from
CFAF 64,000 to CFAF 158,500. On the other hand, the financial
margin obtained from gum-gathering by men represents 31-48%
of the net income of their overall activities which ranges
between CFAF 126,500 to CFAF 365,500. From the combined
incomes of men and women, it appears that this activity, which
generates a financial margin of between CFAF 87,000 to
177,000, represents 33 to 45% of net household incomes
estimated at between CFAF 190,500 and 524,000.
The gum Arabic value chain in North Cameroon employs 3,000
to 3,500 persons in activities ranging from the planting of Acacia
senegal, to the gathering, collection, sorting and exporting of
gum. These people include nursery growers/producers of
Acacia senegal plants, planters of Acacia senegal, gatherers
and collectors. The gross global value of production at export is
estimated at CFAF 365 million, broken down into the
Cameroonian circuit estimated at CFAF 145.6 million and the
Nigerian circuit at CFAF 218.4 million. Since 60 to 70% of
gatherers are rural women from the poorest social classes, it
becomes apparent that gum-related activity provides them with
CFAF 50 to 60 million per crop season (January-June), which is
a significant contribution to poverty reduction.
There is prime quality hard gum on the world market
produced mainly by Acacia senegal and on a smaller
scale by A. polyacantha and A. laeta, as well as second
grade friable gum produced primarily by A. seyal and to
a lesser extent by A. sieberiana. This product is used in
agro-food (60-80%), pharmaceutical (5-10%) and
chemical (10-15%) industries. The harvest of this
exudate must have begun in the Waza sub-division since
1935 under the auspices of Nigerians. It is of great
socio-economic importance given its added value.
2. Gum production
The gum producing zone has about 2,500,000 stems,
from all four species. The most represented species is
the Acacia seyal with a total of about 2,000,000 stems.
The Mayo Kani site has the greatest number of stems of
all species, followed by Diamare and Mayo Sava. The
Diamaré-Mayo
Kani-Mayo
Danay
Basin
has
1,458,400 gum trees, the Logone and Chari North-Mayo
Sava Basin 489,200 stems, the Bénoué North Basin
319,600 stems, and the Mayo Tsanaga-Mayo Louti
Basin 209,600. On the whole, all these gum species are
today considered as key species in their environment,
proof that pedological disturbances are absent for the
moment.
The world production of gum Arabic is between 40,000
and 45,000 tons yearly. The main producers in the world
are in sub-Saharan Africa with Sudan in the lead (80% of
production), followed by Chad and Nigeria which total
nearly 90% of exports to the world market The leading
importers are France and Great Britain (in Europe), the
United States of America, India and Japan. The Acacia
senegal plant has 3 types of producers: State-owned
producer institutions, private producer institutions and
individual producers. It is estimated that a male gatherer
harvests 5 to 6 measures of 2.5kg of gum per day while
a female gatherer harvests 3 to 4 measures of 2.5kg.
The quantities drop during the months of March to May
because of the intense heat. Harvesting is therefore
done mainly from January to June.
The Acacia senegal plantations yield 5 to 10 kg of gum
per hectare yearly. A few rare plantations located in
Mindif and Dadjamka stand out with exceptional yields of
80 to 100 kg/ha/year, whereas the expected theoretical
yield is 156 kg/ha/year, or 205 g of gum per tree per
year. In the large natural plant concentrations of the
Waza National Park (WNP), a gatherer can harvest up to
75 kg of gum of all species per week from January to
February and 50 kg/week from March to June, making a
The GCP/RAF/408/EC Project "Mobilization and capacity-building for small and medium-scale enterprises involved in non-wood forest products value chains in Central
Africa", financed by the European Union seeks to boost the earnings of small and medium-scale enterprises involved in the non-wood forest products value chains and to
sustainably manage forest resources for present and future generations.
This policy brief was prepared by FAO and SNV in collaboration with the NWFP Sub-Department (SDNL) in Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF).
total of 700 to 1,000 Kg per year. Female gatherers may
harvest up to 50 Kg from January to February and 18.75 kg
from March to June, or a total of 500 to 700 kg per year.
3. Threats to the gum resource
Except for the Logone and Chari North and Logone and
Chari South sites where pruning is mostly practised, stress
crack is mostly practiced in the other sites. The practices
which jeopardize the resource are shifting cultivation with
burning, the search for firewood, and the practice of pruning
or clearing to enable air to reach crops. Population growth
also has a direct influence on natural resource management
practices because the habitual farmlands have increased,
fallow periods have been shortened and the natural forest
land has shrunk.
4. Consumption and socio-economic characteristics
Gum gatherers are in majority women (60 to 70%), aged
above 40 years, most of whom never attended school (90 to
95%) and who care for quite large families. In addition to
gathering, they engage in farming and petty trading and sell
firewood. Locally (North Cameroon), gum Arabic is
consumed fresh by children and used in the manufacture of
writing ink for Koranic schools. It also gives rigidity to caps
and is used traditionally to treat gastritis and abdominal
pains. It costs between CFAF 100 and 200 to wash a cap
depending on its worth and 0.5kg of gum can be used for 50
caps. A quantity of 1 kg of gum can be used to make ink for a
group of 20 to 25 pupils per month. The two types of
consumers take up on average 15 kg of gum yearly in the
whole region.
The profitability of an Acacia plantation must pay due regard
to the improvement of fertility engendered, the yields from
intercropping practised during the first three years, the
production of gum Arabic, the possible production of fodder in
areas with weeds as from the fourth year, and the production
of wood in case where the plantation is felled. Low-yield
plantations (10 kg of gum/yearly) with subsidized plants
present net negative incomes which increase further as from
the fourth to the sixth year. For plantations producing 100 kg
of gum/ha/year, net income becomes positive as from the
fourth year for the option in which plants are subsidized. If
plants are not subsidized, the farmer will wait until the eighth
year to start having a net positive income. For a plantation
that produces 156 kg of gum/ha/year, the planter fetches a
global net positive income as from the fourth and fifth year
respectively for the options with and without plant subsidies.
5. Marketing
Collectors scour small villages during the week to buy gum,
which is then transported to the town in which they reside. At
the start of the season (December-January), they pay
gatherers in advance to enable them buy foodstuffs and the
clothing necessary for their activities. Such advance
payments fluctuate a lot (CFAF 10,000 to 30 000) and no
formal written contract is signed. The two parties rely on
mutual trust as the only guarantee. At each supply of gum to
the collector, any advance payments made previously are
deducted from the amount paid to the gatherer. An informal
micro-finance mini-service has developed between collectors
and gatherers. The gatherers of localities situated between
Waza and Dabanga also sell their gum (in bowls) along the
roadside.
The main exporter in Cameroon is CEXPRO, which
operates also by pre-financing collectors to the tune of
CFAF 50 000 on average per individual. These collectors
attain between five and eight tons of gum per season and
sometimes 15 tons at Guirvidig and Hinalé. Gum from
small acacia natural plant concentrations are harvested
mostly by women and children. They sell (CFAF 50 to
100/kg) their entire production to traders, parents or the
Koranic school officials and cap washers. The quantities
exported by CEXPRO were 280, 289 and 356 tons
respectively in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The hard gum
obtained from Acacia senegal is quite valued on the
international market today. Unfortunately, Cameroon’s
production is quite marginal. Furthermore, second grade
gums face stiff competition on the market from synthetic
products, which brings down their selling prices.
At village level, gum prices range from CFAF 100 to 150/kg
for friable gum and to CFAF 600 for hard gum. The selling
price at CEXPRO or in the market to Nigerian buyers
varies between CFAF175 and 300/kg for friable gum and
from CFAF 600 to 800 /kg for hard gum. The FOB price in
Douala varies from CFAF 455/kg for friable gum to CFAF
1,820/kg for hard gum. The gross margins obtained from
the sale of friable gum are from around CFAF 108 to
133/kg for the exporter against CFAF 81 to 103/kg for
gatherers and CFAF 14.7 to 17 /kg for collectors. The
financial margin obtained from the sale of Acacia
polyacantha per gatherer is CFAF 206 to 228/kg, or 43.4%
of FOB (Free-On-Board) price. This means that better
quality gum fetches a higher price. The average price of
adulterated gum at the Nigerian border is CFAF 225/kg.
6. Conclusion
The North and Far North regions of Cameroon display an
ecological diversity that is an asset for the selection of
gum-producing acacia strains adapted to the different
ecological sites of the zone. There are vast stretches of
marginal lands, which could be dedicated to the creation of
new plantations, with the support of financial partners
already identified and encouraged by the existence of a
national plan to fight desertification, drafted by the
government, and that prioritises actions in the SudanoSahelian zone. The gum Arabic value chain can continue
to contribute to the improvement of stakeholders’ income
as well as to the resolution of the problems of land
fertilization and other social problems. To that end, it will be
necessary to lift constraints linked to the current low yield
of Acacia senegal plantations, the difficult access to landed
property which is one of the prerequisites to the opening of
a plantation, and the lack of equity and transparency in
relations and transactions between various stakeholders of
the value chain.
Contact :
Ousseynou Ndoye : Regional Coordinator and National
Coordinator in Cameroon
P.O. Box 281, Yaounde, Cameroon
Tel : +237 22 20 24 72, +237 75 29 70 67, Fax : +237 22 20 48 11
Email : Ousseynou.Ndoye@fao.org / ousseynou_ndoye@yahoo.fr
Sophie Grouwels: Lead Technical Officer in Rome
FAO, Rome, Italy
Tel : +39 06 570 55299, Cell : +39 346 240 1970
Sale of gum in production sites