(Ecofin Agency) - The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has revealed that Nigeria earned $43 million from the export of Gum Arabic in 2016. Ogbeh who disclosed this after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), said that, as a result of the performance, the Federal Government has set aside N263 million ($836, 000) to boost the production and export of the commodity.

The minister highlighted that production is currently being “intensified in States like Yobe and Borno, which have been devastated by war”. According to him, the sum set aside will be injected in the production of gum Arabic seedlings by a Research Institute in Benin before they are distributed to farmers.

Nigeria is the second largest producer of gum arabic in the world after Sudan, with an average production of about 20,000 metric tonnes of all grades of Gum Arabic. The country’s major markets for the product are Belgium, China, USA, U.K and Japan.

Anita Fatunji