Paris — N’Djamena · Chadian gum arabic, delivered with proof

FR

Sustainable Gum Arabic — Tapped, Never Cut

Gum arabic is one of the few export crops that rewards keeping a tree alive rather than cutting it down. This page sets out how MAMO International sources it in Chad — what the tree gives back, who is paid and how, what we refuse to buy, and where we are honest about not yet holding a certification.

THE TREE

The tree: tapped, never cut

Gum arabic is not harvested by felling a tree. A collector scores the bark of an Acacia Senegal or Acacia Seyal, and over the following weeks nodules of gum exude from the wound and are picked by hand. The tree keeps growing, and a single acacia can be tapped for gum across decades of seasons.

Beyond the gum itself, these acacias hold a role few crops do: their roots fix nitrogen and stabilise soil in a region exposed to erosion, and gum-belt plantations sit along the corridor of the Great Green Wall, the pan-African initiative to push back the Sahara. A tree left standing for its gum is also a tree doing that work.

TAPPED, NOT CUT · DECADES OF YIELD PER TREE · GREAT GREEN WALL CORRIDOR

Tapped acacia, gum nodules forming
Tapped acacia, gum nodules forming

THE PEOPLE

The people: direct purchasing, real livelihoods

We buy directly from producer groups in the collection zones, at prices agreed before the harvest rather than negotiated lot by lot at the roadside. Removing the layer of intermediary traders is also how a shorter chain funds a fairer price at origin.

Gum collection is not a marginal activity in Chad: more than 500,000 households depend on it for part of their income, most of them in regions with few other cash-generating crops. A committed buyer on the other end of that chain is not a detail.

DIRECT PURCHASING · PRICES AGREED BEFORE HARVEST · 500,000+ HOUSEHOLDS

A gum producer among the acacias, Chad
A gum producer in the Chadian gum belt

WHAT WE REFUSE

What we refuse

We do not buy undocumented gum. If a lot cannot be traced to a recorded collection zone and a named producer group, it does not enter our chain, whatever the price.

We do not re-route gum through conflict-affected areas to obscure its origin, and we do not make claims we cannot support with a document. An honest “we don’t yet have this” is worth more to a buyer than a claim that does not survive an audit.

NO UNDOCUMENTED GUM · NO CONFLICT-ZONE RE-ROUTING · NO UNAUDITABLE CLAIMS

AN HONEST NOTE

Where we stand on certification

We are frequently asked whether our gum is Fair for Life or organic certified. It is not, not yet. Both are on our roadmap, and we would rather say so plainly than let a buyer assume a label we do not hold.

What we do hold today is documented and auditable: GPS-identified zones, named producer groups, committed purchase prices and a certificate of analysis on every lot. We are building toward formal certification from that base, not instead of it.

FAIR FOR LIFE & ORGANIC — ON THE ROADMAP, NOT YET HELD

QUESTIONS

Two questions buyers ask.

Does harvesting harm the tree?

No. Gum arabic is collected by tapping — scoring the bark so that gum exudes and can be picked by hand — a technique that does not fell or girdle the acacia. Trees are tapped repeatedly across many seasons, which is one reason the crop supports long-term soil cover rather than working against it.

Is your gum fair-trade certified?

Not yet. We buy directly from producer groups at prices committed before harvest, the practice fair-trade certification is designed to verify, but we do not hold a Fair for Life or equivalent certificate today. It is on our roadmap, and we say so rather than imply a label we do not have.

NEXT STEP

Ask us what our supply chain does not yet certify.

Request samples & our sourcing note

RESPONSE WITHIN 24 H · DOCUMENTS BEFORE COMMITMENTS