Phosiso Sola 251Craft production depends heavily on the rate of leaf production and on
the growth rate of new leaves. Leaf production determines the number of
leaves on each plant while the growth rate determines how many leaves can
be harvested at any one time. On average the ramets produced one leaf in
three months, which gave an estimate of four leaves per ramet per year
(Sola 1998).
The structure is not the typical reverse J, an indicator of growing
populations. This is so because stems are repeatedly cut for sap tapping and
as such are not naturally growing. As a result there are few adult trees. Hence
palms in the harvestable categories accounted for 95.09% of the total population
with a density of 974.5 ramets per hectare (Table 1).
On average each ramet has 1.72 harvestable leaves (longer than 60 cm),
which gave 808.41 harvestable leaves per hectare; these accounted for 48.27%
of the total leaves (Table 1). Using the annual leaf production rate of four
leaves per ramet (Sola 1998) the production potential of the ramets in Xini
ward is therefore 3,233.75 leaves/ha/year.RAW MATERIAL PRODUCERS AND THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXTPopulation
In 1993, Xini ward had a population of 9,080 people, 5,173 of them females
and 3,907 males (CSO 1993). While the distribution is similar to the national
scenario, the situation in Xini is compounded by the continued migration of
young men into South Africa in search for employment. The average household
size in Xini ward is 5.7 people.Livelihood activities
Farming systems are based on extensive livestock production. Over 86% of the
households in Sengwe own livestock (ARDA unpublished). Rain-fed crop
production is the norm. On average a household cultivates 2.2 ha per season.
Most of the time activities have to be carried out according to priority. Sola’s
study of 1998 showed household participation in craft production was inversely
related to crop production labour demands (Figure 3).Household income
According to the Mabalauta Working Group (2000), most cash from livestock
sales comes from cattle even though 40% of the Xini population do not own
cattle. Goats and chickens are the most widely owned domestic animals. There
are five irrigation schemes in Xini, all situated in the flood plain of Mwenezi
River within the palm area. During good seasons a family can make as much as
US$4.00 per week from sales of horticultural produce.
Remittances play a big role in family income generation (ARDA unpublished;
ENDA unpublished; Sola 1998; MWG 2000). According to ENDA, 45% of the people
in the study area have family members—in most cases, sons—elsewhere who
send money or goods to them (MWG 2000).14PALM.P65 251 22/12/2004, 11:05