Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

Chapter 4

Achieving a fair and

sustainable trade in devil’s claw

(Harpagophytum spp.)

Rachel Wynberg^1

ABSTRACT

There is growing international trade in Harpagophytum spp. (devil’s claw), a

Kalahari plant used to treat rheumatism and arthritis. At least 9,000 rural

people in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa rely on wild harvesting the

plant, often as their only source of income. Increased commercialisation,

combined with harmful harvesting techniques, has led to concerns about

overexploitation and the status of Harpagophytum populations, and a proposed

CITES listing. This paper investigates the harvesting and use of devil’s claw,

analyses the potential impacts of its domestication, and provides an overview

of its production and trade. Three models of commercialisation are described

for the species, each yielding different sets of benefits and constraints. The

paper concludes that the plant holds considerable potential as a non-timber

forest product that can both be harvested sustainably and deliver significant

development benefits to marginalized rural communities. Several barriers,

however, impede this potential from being realised, including a lack of tenure

security, insufficient monitoring capacity, poor business and organisational

skills, and inadequate quality and resource management. Monopoly control at

the international level severely compromises the ability of communities and

range states to receive optimum benefits. Constructive interventions to address

these constraints are urgently needed and are receiving increased attention

from decision-makers and industry.

Common names Part of the Management Degree of Scale of Geographic

resource used transformation trade range

Devil’s claw, Root Managed High International Medium

Arthritis root

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