By comparing several gum arabic (Acacia senegal) projects in Sudan supported by the Energy Council (ERC), this paper made the paradoxical finding that projects receiving the highest levels of funding and technical support were the least successful, because increased external inputs relieved local farmers of responsibility and therefore of incentive to participate. The most successful were those where local farmers were given maximum independence to devise and manage their own schemes. Farmers were also more likely to use irrigated land for gum arabic production if they were able to incorporate cultivation of the trees into broader agroforestry systems.