TİKA Supports Gum Arabic Manufacturers in Sudan

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provides an aid package support with harvesting equipment to the Sudanese Gum Arabic manufacturers.

150 of 300 aid packages, which are planned to be distributed to small manufacturers in 10 different states of Sudan by TİKA in collaboration with the Sudan Gum Arabic Council, were delivered to the representatives from manufacturing associations at the “First Gum Arabic Forum” organized in the city of El-Obeid in the state of North Kordofan on April 7, 2021. The opening ceremony of the forum was attended by Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as well as ministers and senior executives of relevant institutions.

TİKA’s Khartoum Coordinator Bilal Özden, who gave a speech during the opening ceremony, said that they are aware of the importance and the value of Gum Arabic for Sudan and that they provided a support valued 10 million dollars via FAO to the forestation works carried out in Sudan as part of the “Great Green Wall” project. Özden stated that they will develop new projects thanks to this alliance that was built in order to help Sudan generate the income that they deserve from this extremely valuable product.

Even though Sudan is the most important Gum Arabic manufacturer in the world, they cannot generate a sufficient income from Gum Arabic. According to 2020 data of the customs administration of Sudan, the country had an income of 96.9 million dollars from 79,684 metric tons of Gum Arabic. The majority of Gum Arabic, which is used as regulator, binder, thickener, and crystallization inhibitor in industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, and cosmetics, is illegally smuggled abroad.

The project that is carried out by TİKA aims to raise national and international awareness on Gum Arabic and to make sure that the small manufacturers feel valued.

Thanks to this collaboration, the plan in the forthcoming period is to carry out new projects in order to increase the value added obtained from Gum Arabic, as well as the quality and the quantity of the product as part of the program to support Gum Arabic.

The aid package includes materials such as harvesting equipment, protective wear, gloves, boots, goggles, flask, saddlebag, nylon cover, pocket radio, flashlight, first aid kid which were developed by the Gum Arabic Research Center at North Kordofan University.