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In Kenya, the territory is made up of two-thirds of arid or semi-arid land. A tree marks these types of landscape: the acacia of Senegal, a shrub which resists well because it needs little water. A boon because its dried sap is a gold mine. Sudan is the world’s leading exporter, but in Kenya, a company has decided to exploit the potential of this natural resource.
From our correspondent in Nairobi,
Ekuyen Ngipetain walks with a measured step, carefully scrutinizing the wild acacia trees. When suddenly she stops: There, I saw it. There are some on this tree. »
On the shrub, the dried sap takes the form of small white pebbles. The young woman carefully avoids the thorny branches to reach the trunk and harvest the precious gum arabic.
It hasn’t rained for more than a year so the sap is scarce. And sometimes baboons or goats eat it before it can be harvested. The young mother must therefore walk further and further to find some. Yet she does not see herself stopping.
Ensure an income
« It allows me to earn a living and buy food for my children every day, even those when I only collect a little. I started a few years ago when we lost almost all of our livestock to drought. Harvesting gum arabic is a good economic alternative for me. Because depending only on animals to live is too precarious: when they die, we have nothing left. »
Like her, many women in the village have taken to harvesting gum arabic. Because in Turkana, repeated droughts threaten cattle breeding but economic alternatives are rare.
In good seasons, Ekuyen Ngipetain says she harvests up to four kilos a day, which she sells for around 1.50 euros each. A few years ago, however, there was little interest and few outlets for this gum with its emulsifying or stabilizing properties, but also an essential ingredient for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
An inexhaustible natural resource
Since 2015 and with the help of funding from the European Union, Acacia EPZ has set up a whole collection circuit in four of these arid regions. To then export to Europe. An exchange that contributes to local development, according to Sam Nyamboga, CEO of the Kenyan company.
« I firmly believe in the need for responsible trade. And the fact of using local natural resources to find solutions to local problems. Gum arabic ticks all those boxes. It is a resource that makes it possible to make profit, financially of course, but also environmentally. Because communities are given an economic incentive to preserve trees. And finally, it is a business with a social impact, since having more sources of income motivates its communities, which are mostly pastoral, to move less. This allows children to follow a school curriculum. »
Acacia EPZ has trained more than 6,000 people in Kenya to collect gum arabic. A network which today allows it to export between 10 and 15 tonnes per month, mainly to Germany. But this natural resource remains largely under-exploited explains Sam Nyamboga while the demand is according to him “unlimited”.