Gum collectors in India

Although the non-timber forest product (NTFP) sector has been relatively neglected in official statistics, we do know that there is a sizeable and growing international market for NTFPs including essential oils, medicinal plants, gums and resins, rattan and bamboo, natural honey, brazil and other edible nuts, mushrooms, various types of fibres, and shea and other types of wild nuts seeds which can be used in cooking, skin care and other purposes. In all there are now 150 NTFPs of major significance in international trade which involve millions of poor producers and workers, including many who live in the most remote areas of developing countries. With increased interest in natural health and beauty products fuelling a massive growth in demand for these products in North America, Europe and Japan, there are huge opportunities for producers in the South to link with these markets. In many cases, there are also large and untapped domestic and regional products for such products.

But does the increased demand and rising international prices for these products actually benefit the rural women who tend to be the main collectors of the raw materials? We look at this question through a case study in India featuring one NTFP – namely gum which is a major export industry with India being the world’s third largest exporter of gums and resins (excluding gum Arabic).

The Gujurat State Forest Development Corporation (GSFDC) has been involved in a widespread programme to plant Proscopis juliflora (locally known as ‘ganda baval’) trees in the desert region of the state. These trees can survive under the extreme desert climate and are used to form a green belt which checks soil erosion. During the dry season gum oozes out of the branches. The gum has several uses and a commercial value including in export markets. GSFDC collects this gum through licensed contractors who then are supposed to employ workers to collect the gum. However, in most cases, instead of hiring workers, contractors buy the gum from the women in the desert villages. This is a cheap method of conducting business since the women collect the gum illegally without licenses from GSFDC and therefore have no alternative but to sell to the contractors at a very cheap price.

Gum is available for around eight months of the year but its quality varies over this time period – from white gum which is the best quality and is edible, to red gum which is used in glue making and screen printing, to black gum which is the lowest quality and is used in making firecrackers and in producing colour chemicals. Women travel long distances – often up to twelve miles to reach the gum areas and face very difficult conditions including thorny branches which cause scratches and rashes. Normally a woman can collect no more than two kilos of gum in a day for which they are paid very little by the contractors.

To address women’s exploitation at the hands of contractors and their difficult working conditions, the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has organized the women gum collectors into groups under the state government’s ‘Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas’ (DWCRA) programme. SEWA obtained gum collection licences from the GSFDC for these groups. As a result they started to get at least three times more money than they had received from the contractors. GSFDC also supplies the women with protective clothing to improve their working conditions. The increased income stability from gum collection under the DWCRA scheme is welcomed by the women. However, all is still not well. Gum collection is hard and hazardous work in comparison to embroidery or plant nurseries and the women still make very little money during the year. Their problems are compounded by GSFDC. For example, at one time, GSFDC, which has total control over setting the price for minor forest products such as gum, lowered the price from Rs12 per kilo to Rs6 per kilo. Enquiries revealed that as a result of trade liberalization, lower-priced gums were being imported from the Sudan and other African countries and competing with local supplies thus bringing down the price. Group leaders went to the headquarters of GSFDC in Baroda and were able to argue for an increase to Rs8 per kilo which is still very low.

In the meantime, open market rates had risen to more than twice this price but collectors are only allowed to sell to the GSFDC which buys at its own (low) price. Again, SEWA and the Banakantha Women’s Association are helping women’s group to bargain with GSFDC to be allowed to sell on the open market. Another reason for this is that GSFDC does not have an effective marketing strategy. Without knowledge of domestic and export markets for the gum it buys from collectors, it simply sells its supplies to private traders (including from out-of-state) who resell to industrial users at much increased prices, including in export markets. Thus, SEWA and BDWA are also concerned to encourage GSFDC to improve its marketing channels and to help the women’s groups to get more directly involved in the marketing chain.

As can be seen, therefore, although there is a plentiful market for gum from Gujurat and higher prices to be had, women have not been able to benefit fully from the new opportunities arising from globalization. First, they suffered from a fall in prices due to trade liberalization which led to import competition. Second, they suffer from a situation in which they cannot become more directly involved in marketing – either domestic or export - because of the need to sell to GSFDC and also because of the lack of an adequate mechanism for finding out about opportunities in domestic, regional and export markets.

Source: Carr M, Chen M, and R Jhabvala (eds), Speaking Out: Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Asia, IT Publications, London and Sage, New Delhi.