Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

246 Palm utilisation for basketry in Xini Ward, Sengwe communal areas, Zimbabwe

droughts and developments in the tourism sector, the main market for these

products. In Botswana the industry expanded in the early to mid-1970s when

marketing organisations were established (Cunningham and Terry 1993). In

the Estha region in Botswana the industry had become so important that the

resource became scarce and cultivation had to be adopted (Cunningham and

Terry 1993).

Studies in Namibia showed that the basketry industry was very important

to the livelihoods of the people of Owambo region, as it provides both household

utensils and the means of generating income (Konstant et al. 1995). Hyphaene

petersiana does not grow in South Africa, but rural people use a similar species,

H. coriacea. Craft work from H. coriacea accounted for 75% of the craft products

made in Maputaland in 1983 (Cunningham 1987).

Indigenous people of Zimbabwe have utilised the palm H. petersiana for

sap tapping and craft work for centuries (Meredith 1948; Pardy 1955). The

young leaf is used for baskets, the fresh rachis for mats and the dry petioles

for doors and chairs. Women use the fan leaves in making tablemats and also

as a thatching material (ENDA unpublished; Sola 1998).

(Hyphaene petersiana)

14PALM.P65 246 22/12/2004, 11:05