NIGERIA is the leading producer of Gum Arabic in West Africa. As well, it is the second largest world producer/exporter of Gum Arabic after Sudan. GumArabic (acacia senegalis) is a perennial tree found growing wild in large commercial quantity in the northern parts of Nigeria. However, when cultivated it takes about 5years to mature.
Gum arabic is a leguminous tree species that is well adapted to sudan and sahelian agro-ecology of Africa and it produces a natural gum made of hardened sap mostly taken from three species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal (Grade 1), Acacia seyal(Grade 2) and Combretum though the major Acacia utilized for commercial Gum Arabic production in Nigeria are Acacia Senegal and Acacia seyal.
