Sudan’s war has left farmers of gum arabic, a vital ingredient for global industry including fizzy drinks, bereft of local buyers but a trade group assures global stocks are – for now – sufficient.
Sudan is the world’s largest producer of the raw gum which is a major source of foreign currency for the northeast African nation.But now, since war between two generals began on April 15, “producers are grappling with disaster,” Adam Issa Mohammed, a gum arabic trader, told AFP in El Obeid, the North Kordofan state capital 350 kilometres southwest of Khartoum.Other farming sectors are also coping with a wartime lack of buyers as fuel shortages hinder transport to market, and prices soar.
The bulk of the conflict has been in the capital Khartoum, parts of which have been reduced to smouldering rubble, as well as the western region of Darfur.Further east, closer to the Ethiopian border, the Gedaref area and its acacia trees have been spared the fighting but gum arabic farmers are still affected.