Devils's claw harvesting bears fruit

Devils's claw harvesting bears fruit Devil''s claw harvesters in the Zambezi Region this year managed to harvest approximately 34 tons of the plant, or just over N$1 million in revenue terms.

This is according to IRDNC Namibia field officer Eben Ueepu who spoke to Namibian Sun recently.

The figure could however rise significantly because data collection is still ongoing, he explained. “We are still battling to get all the figures,” said Ueepu who briefly responded to a query telephonically.

Conservancies in the Zambezi Region harvest devil''s claw to sell to suppliers who either make medicinal products or sell them on internationally.

In 2015, it was reported that the Sachona conservancy in the Zambezi Region alone had managed to harvest about 55 tons of devil''s claw, showing the plant''s income-generating potential for rural communities. In the same year, the Sachona conservancy collected N$700 000 in revenue solely from devil''s claw harvesting.

Explaining how the revenue was divided, Ueepu said: “The money goes to the people who did the harvesting under their conservancies. At the beginning of the year, two prices are set. One goes straight to the harvester, the other goes towards the conservancy''s management.”

According to him, harvesters may earn anything between N$29 and N$35 per kilogram.

The other portion, which amounts to between N$3 and N$4 per kilogram, goes to the participating conservancies.

“We had 1 387 harvesters for this year. Well, by September there were 373 actual harvesters.”

With regard to whether attempts were being made for local value addition, Ueepu explained that because devil''s claw was a medicinal product, efforts to add value locally would prove difficult. He did however say that the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry was still reviewing value addition as a possibility. “That has been a discussion for many years. Nothing really has been done.”

According to Ueepu, a final report will be ready by the end of the week. The report would give an indication of how much was collected in revenue terms and how much was harvested by each conservancy.

Following the close of the harvesting period between 1 November 2016 and February 2017, Ueepu said that resource monitors would use the period to assess the state of the plants to assess whether the resource was not being put under strain as a result of the harvesting.

According to the IRDNC, devil''s claw harvesters earned about N$2 600 in 2014 while the Zambezi Region alone accounted for 17% of the total supply of devil''s claw of about 600 tons.

OGONE TLHAGE