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as a thatching material (ENDA unpublished; Sola 1998).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