The collectors set off early in groups into the areas surrounding their villages to scrape or pluck off the frankincense resins from the wild trees.

The harvest is from natural exudation, the trees are not cut or tapped in any way as the gum is induced by the chewing activity of beetle larvae or exudes as droplets from the surface of the bark. Therefore, a collector needs to visit a tree only once and after the rains can collect up to 10 kg a day.