54 Achieving a fair and sustainable trade in devil’s claw (Harpagophytum spp.)INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
One of the most thought-provoking and complex cases of commercialisation
in southern Africa is that of devil’s claw (Harpagophytum spp.). Roots of the
plant are commonly used to treat rheumatism and arthritis and this has led to
a growing international trade over the past 50 years. Increased
commercialisation has also resulted in an escalation of local harvesting of the
plant, and concerns about the sustainability of wild extraction. This, together
with a desire to improve pharmaceutical quality, has led to investigations in
the feasibility of cultivation, often without consideration of the broader social,
economic and environmental impacts. The imperative for sustainable use is
not only ecological. At least 9,000 rural people in Botswana, Namibia and, to
a lesser extent, South Africa rely on the wild-crafting of devil’s claw, often as
their only source of cash income. They include some of the most marginalized
communities in the region.
In all, some 600 tons to 700 tons of dried material is traded each year,
worth an estimated US$100 million in the international trade. A complex set
of relationships characterises trade in devil’s claw, determined to a large
extent by the role of the state, and that of industry, the non-governmental
sector and community-based organisations. These scenarios in turn provide
different sets of national and local benefits. Overall, however, devil’s claw
commercialisation results in local harvesters and national economies receiving
a minute proportion of benefits from the trade, and virtually no value adding
occurs within the region. Although government policies are in place to protect
the species and monitor its trade, their implementation is weak and thwarted
by a lack of human and financial capacity. The difficulties of competing against
highly sophisticated industries, combined with poor collaboration between
producers and local traders, further weakens the bargaining power of
developing countries in the region.
This paper explores these issues in more detail, providing an overview of
the ecology of the plant, its use and sustainability, and the questions raised by
efforts to domesticate the species. Insights are provided in the social and
cultural aspects of devil’s claw production and its trade, with emphasis on the
raw material production area in Omaheke Region, Namibia. The paper concludes
with a short analysis of key trends and issues, lessons learned from the case
and suggested strategies to address current pitfalls.STUDY AREA AND CONTEXT
This chapter provides an overview of trade in devil’s claw in southern Africa.
However, to allow for comparisons across case studies and to facilitate
statistical analysis, the focus is Omaheke Region of Namibia (Figure 1). Omaheke
represents one of 13 regions in Namibia, and one of the poorest in the country.
It is located within the Central Kalahari Savannah, an area that receives
highly variable rainfall, averaging 250 mm to 450 mm per year. In parts of
this area, 328 harvesters are engaged in the “Sustainably Harvested Devil’s
Claw Project” (SHDC), a project facilitated by non-governmental organisations
(NGO), which focuses on 12 pre-independence resettlement farms including
Vergenoeg, Gemboksfontein, Blouberg, Kalahari Prag and eight farms linked04devilcslaw.P65 54 22/12/2004, 11:04