AFCADDE, Ethiopia — A historic drought in Ethiopia's Somali region is threatening the global supply of myrrh resin, a key ingredient in luxury perfumes that supports local livelihoods and feeds international markets worth hundreds of dollars per bottle. Water scarcity and livestock damage are undermining a traditional harvesting system that has sustained communities and produced premium-quality resin for global fashion brands including Tom Ford, Comme des Garcons and Jo Malone.
Researchers supported by the American Herbal Products Association and Born Global visited a source of the resin earlier this year to assess the situation and to see whether harvesters could get more direct profits instead of middlemen in an opaque supply chain. Ethiopia is a major source of myrrh, which has been used in beauty, health and religious practices since at least ancient Egypt.
Supply Chain Economics
The hand-harvested nature of myrrh raises its price in global markets, yet those doing the work see little of the profit. Collecting a kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of the resin brings as little as $3.50 and as much as $10. The resin from this part of eastern Ethiopia feeds global markets and is used in perfumes marketed by fashion brands with bottles sold for as much as $500. For now, most myrrh from this part of eastern Ethiopia is purchased by traders from neighboring Somalia, and Ethiopia collects no taxes on the goods.
The researchers were led by Anjanette DeCarlo, an expert in sustainable supply chains and resins at the University of Vermont, and Stephen Johnson, a resin expert and owner of FairSource Botanicals. They found that communities practice traditional harvesting by collecting resin from trees' naturally occurring wounds instead of making intentional cuts, which makes trees more vulnerable to pests and disease. DeCarlo said, "Traditional practice is in balance and protects trees. It should be celebrated."
Climate and Resource Pressures
The annual rains have been failing over the past several years, interrupted in 2023 by devastating flooding. Experts blamed the changing climate. The arid region has long seen droughts, but this one has been historic. Myrrh harvesting is threatened because adult trees are generally healthy but are producing less resin, and fewer young trees are surviving. Local elder Mohamed Osman Miyir said, "Unfortunately, many seedlings are uprooted by children who graze their livestock nearby, and the animals often eat the buds of the young trees," adding, "We are deeply worried about the declining population of myrrh trees."
Villagers spend their days hauling water for themselves and their livestock. Herders travel over parched, cracked earth as far as 200 kilometers, or 125 miles, to Sanqotor village, which has a rare well with water. Local headman Ali Mohamed said, "Guests water animals first, then the villagers," while watching hundreds of livestock crowd around the well. The poorest residents rely solely on tree resin like myrrh for their survival.
Traditional Uses and Market Potential
Dahir Yousef Abdi, a guide from the Somali Region Pastoral and Agro-pastoral Research Institute, demonstrated ink made from myrrh in Sanqotor. Myrrh, in Islamic tradition, is turned into a black ink used only for writing the Quran and symbolizes the connection between the word and the divine. Myrrh burns in traditional clay vessels in homes to ward off bugs and snakes and to fumigate them. Curiosity about myrrh's other potential uses is growing as global interest in natural remedies increases.
Local residents hope more visibility will help them as the climate crisis threatens their ways of life. Abdinasir Abdikadir Aweys, senior researcher with the Somali Regional Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Research Institute and a member of the research team, said, "They expressed hope that a direct market would enable them to secure better prices, ensuring sustainable livelihoods."
The researchers worried that without proper rain, other young trees are likely to fail, and DeCarlo worried that eventually even the adult trees will die.
Why This Matters:
The myrrh crisis in Ethiopia illustrates how environmental pressures can disrupt established supply chains that connect remote producers to lucrative global markets. The stark disparity between what harvesters earn—as little as $3.50 per kilogram—and the $500 retail price of luxury perfumes highlights an inefficient supply chain where middlemen capture most value while producers bear all climate risk. Ethiopia's failure to collect taxes on myrrh exports represents lost government revenue that could fund infrastructure or drought relief. The traditional harvesting system, which protects tree health and produces premium resin, depends on institutional knowledge and practices that may not survive if young trees fail and communities abandon the trade. Direct market access could improve producer incomes without government intervention, demonstrating how market transparency and reduced intermediation can address inequality more effectively than redistribution. The threat to myrrh supplies also signals broader risks to natural resource industries from climate variability, with implications for trade, livelihoods, and the viability of traditional economic systems in vulnerable regions.