Gum Arabic producers discuss strategic policy

KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 7, 2005 (PANA) — Stakeholders began a two-day regional
African conference here Tuesday to devise a strategic policy on
stockpiling of Gum Arabic (Acacia) in producer African countries.

Some 35 experts from Sudan, Nigeria, Chad, the International
Organisation on Gum Publicity, as well as the UN agricultural
agency, FAO, will discuss how to create a strategic stockpile of
the scarce produce.

Gum Arabic is a gum exuded by various African trees of the genus
Acacia. In Senegal, it is used in the preparation of pills and
emulsions and the manufacture of mucilage and candies and in
general, as a thickener and colloidal stabiliser.

A source at the National Forestry Department in Khartoum said
establishing a Gum Arabic stockpile would be one of the best
means of preserving the pioneering position of producer African
countries, as well as stabilising prices and maintaining a high
standard in Gum Arabic exports.

The source said the new policy would also reflect on the daily
lives of inhabitants in rural Sudan where Gum Arabic is being
produced, by encouraging them to grow the crop and discourage
urban migration.

“The lack of such a stockpile (in Gum Arabic) in the past few
years had led to fluctuations in prices and supply,” the source
told PANA here Tuesday.