Post by Trade facilitator on Sept 24, 2017 14:56:48 GMT 1
The Nigerian non-oil export market may soon receive a major boost with the planned repositioning of the country’s gum Arabic production and the launching of the stakeholders’ association in Abuja last week.
Gum Arabic producers in the country, under the aegis of the national association of Gum Arabic Producers, Processors and Exporters of Nigeria (NAGAPPEN), have already projected annual foreign exchange earnings of over 1.6billion naira from the product’s export. This they said, will be easily achieved if the federal government and the 15 northern states government-producers of the commodity give the desired backing to the private sector-led visions of NAGAPPEN.
Mr. Cletueus said Nigerian producers are determined to bridge the gap created by the low export profile of the product, ‘’given the current government’s encouragement of trade associations to ensure quality control and orderly development of primary export producers.’’
According to him, gum Arabic is a strategic raw material with world-wide application in the food, beverages, confectionery, pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries.
In the food/beverages and confectionery industries, gum Arabic is used as an emulsifier, a stabilizer, a fixing and jellifying agent among other uses. In the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, it is used as a binding and coating agents. He said that the product finds worldwide use also in environmental protection by curtailing desert encroachment because of its low water consumption rate and ability to survive in adverse weather conditions. In erosion control, the roots of the gum Arabic tree have very strong grip on the soil thereby holding the soil together and preventing erosion.
As a high value cash crop, raw, raw gum Arabic sold for over 2,000 dollars per ton in the 1990s while the processed gum sold for 4,500 dollars per ton in the same period. He however, regretted that the international prices currently fluctuate between 1,000 dollars and 1,500 dollars.
It is because of the simultaneous application of gum Arabic in industry, agriculture and environment and as a major source of hard currency that this product has become strategic in industry and politics.
Up to 1966, Nigeria was the second world largest producer of gun Arabic after Sudan. Nigeria however lost this position to Chad due to lack of attention to the development of this valuable product. Bush burning, absence of research and improved seedling, lack of forest renewal, absence of new plantation, decline productivity of old trees, felling of trees for use as firewood have all combined to reduce Nigeria’s productive capacity of gum Arabic.
Gum Arabic producers in the country, under the aegis of the national association of Gum Arabic Producers, Processors and Exporters of Nigeria (NAGAPPEN), have already projected annual foreign exchange earnings of over 1.6billion naira from the product’s export. This they said, will be easily achieved if the federal government and the 15 northern states government-producers of the commodity give the desired backing to the private sector-led visions of NAGAPPEN.
Mr. Cletueus said Nigerian producers are determined to bridge the gap created by the low export profile of the product, ‘’given the current government’s encouragement of trade associations to ensure quality control and orderly development of primary export producers.’’
According to him, gum Arabic is a strategic raw material with world-wide application in the food, beverages, confectionery, pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries.
In the food/beverages and confectionery industries, gum Arabic is used as an emulsifier, a stabilizer, a fixing and jellifying agent among other uses. In the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, it is used as a binding and coating agents. He said that the product finds worldwide use also in environmental protection by curtailing desert encroachment because of its low water consumption rate and ability to survive in adverse weather conditions. In erosion control, the roots of the gum Arabic tree have very strong grip on the soil thereby holding the soil together and preventing erosion.
As a high value cash crop, raw, raw gum Arabic sold for over 2,000 dollars per ton in the 1990s while the processed gum sold for 4,500 dollars per ton in the same period. He however, regretted that the international prices currently fluctuate between 1,000 dollars and 1,500 dollars.
It is because of the simultaneous application of gum Arabic in industry, agriculture and environment and as a major source of hard currency that this product has become strategic in industry and politics.
Up to 1966, Nigeria was the second world largest producer of gun Arabic after Sudan. Nigeria however lost this position to Chad due to lack of attention to the development of this valuable product. Bush burning, absence of research and improved seedling, lack of forest renewal, absence of new plantation, decline productivity of old trees, felling of trees for use as firewood have all combined to reduce Nigeria’s productive capacity of gum Arabic.
