Maigatari — JIGAWA Gum Arabic Processing Company has raised one million gum arabic seedlings as part of its long-term development plan. Its General Manager, Alhaji Hamza Turabu, said Maigatari, Jigawa, that the seedlings were obtained from five nurseries located at Maigama, Sule Tankarkat, Garki, Dansobe and Andaza.

Two other nurseries, he said, would be opened at Balango and Kirikasanma. The general manager said with appropriate backing from the state government, the company had the potential to raise new plantations measuring 1,000 hectares each year. The company, which took off in January, is already involved in the management of the 750 hectares of gum arabic in the state.

Turabu said some 170 tonnes of the commodity valued at N17 million had been sold to some companies in the U.S. since the commencement of operations by the company. The company would install machinery for the gum arabic laboratory at Maigatari by the end of December "to ensure the processing of grade one gum arabic required in the international market", he said. The general manager said the company, in conjunction with experts from the U.S., had trained 60 gum arabic farmers on modern techniques of managing gum arabic plantations and marketing options available in the international market. He noted that a mass mobilisation campaign had commenced to sensitise farmers to embrace the project "because of its high economic value". Gum arabic attracts N100,000 per tonne in the market and each tree has a maturation period of five years. It can be exploited thereafter for up to 25 years. Turabu advised the federal and state governments to focus on the planting of gum arabic to check erosion and desertification.