Rundu
Communities harvesting devil’s claw in the Kavango East and West regions earned close to N$1 million over four years from the sale of the plant.
Harvesting of this medicinal plant in the two Kavango regions started in 2010, and close to 400 registered harvesters benefited from this income, said the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) field officer for both regions, Fidelis Mpofu.
The devil’s claw plant is, among others, used as a pain reliever and digestion aid. It grows in the wild and is harvested from March 1 to the end of October every year. In the Katope Community Forest, a man and his three wives harvested about N$30 000 worth of devil’s claw in just one season last year.
“N$30 000 for someone in the village is like a million dollars. These people do not pay rent or have debts. Just last week, we paid another woman N$5 000 for six bags of devil’s claw. This is money no one will just give you in cash,” a proud Mpofu told Nampa over the weekend.
One kilogramme (kg) of devil’s claw is sold for N$24. “Every time we visit the conservancies, harvesters talk about how happy they are with the programme. For them this is a non-profit organisation which will not cheat them out of the income they generate,” Mpofu said.
The field officer noted that the only complaint harvesters have is in connection with private buyers who want to buy devil’s claw at very low prices.
Some buyers want to trade clothes and food for the plant.
“We have found that the average village inhabitant does not estimate the value correctly. Some would exchange a 20kg bag of devil’s claw for a 2kg packet of sugar,” Mpofu explained.
Two kilogrammes of sugar costs less than N$20, while 20kg of devil’s claw is worth between N$480 and N$500. The programme tries by all means to stop such activities.
He said local communities are assisted in negotiations with buyers, and to ensure proper storage and sales. This is so that maximum benefits are returned to the communities through the sustainable and responsible management of the natural resource.
Seventy-four percent of the suppliers are female harvesters who walk long distances, some with babies on their backs, in search of the plant.
Mpofu said his years of work in conservancies and villages where the harvesting of the devil’s claw is permitted, has led to most of the harvesters regarding him as a son and brother.
This has allowed him to see how the harvesting of devil’s claw has changed the lives of many communities for the better, especially the women.
Mpofu further indicated that the majority of devil’s claw being sold is from areas that are not supported in harvesting.
He thus called on the government for more funding, saying there are quite a lot of villages that need support to harvest devil’s claw.
The NNF is working with five local organisations, including gazetted or emerging community conservancies and community forests in the two Kavango regions to sustainably help improve all aspects of this indigenous natural product (INP) with a view toward increasing income for producers. These are the Joseph Mbambangandu, George Mukoya, Muduva Nyangana and Daniel Mpasi Sitentu conservancies, and Katope Community Forest.
Over the four years, the project was funded by the Southern African Regional Environmental Programme and the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia.
This year the programme is supported by the European Union through the Civil Society Foundation of Namibia, with NNF as implementing agency. – Nampa