Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

Phosiso Sola 261

acceptance and stability between the major groups, the Ndebele and the

Shangaan. This social regrouping did not seem to affect cultural systems of

palm utilisation but just might facilitate resource management by owners

and nonowners.

CONCLUSION

The greatest threat to the basketry industry is land use conversion, which has

reduced the palm standing stock, and hence also the harvestable material for

basket making. Leaf harvesting techniques have not had any apparent adverse

impacts as extraction rates are lower than annual leaf production rates.

The basketry industry, which began as chance sales by a few households,

has grown to encompass about 60% of the households in the study area. The

community based trading association SEVACA has facilitated the expansion of

markets, thereby increasing community income so that the basketry industry

now is contributing more to household income than it did before. This case

study has demonstrated that with support community based industries can be

viable.

ENDNOTES

1. Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources,10 Lawson Avenue, Milton
   Park. Box BE 398, Belvedere, Harare, Zimbabwe. E-mail: [email protected]


2. Exchange rate: US$1 = ZWD38.98.

REFERENCES

Central Statistics Office. 1993 1992 census: Zimbabwe preliminary report.

Government of Zimbabwe, Harare.

Corley, R.H.V., Gray, B.S. and Siew Kee, N.G. 1971 Productivity of the oil palm

Elaies Guinness Jacq. in Malaysia. Experimental Agriculture 7: 129–136.

Cunningham, A.B. 1987 Commercial craftwork: balancing out human needs

and resources. South African Journal of Botany 53(4): 256–259.

Cunningham, A.B. 1988 Leaf production and utilisation in Hyphaene coriacea:

management guidelines for commercial harvesting. South African Journal

of Botany 54(3): 189–195.

Cunningham, A.B. and Milton, S.J. 1987 Effects of basket weaving industry on

Mokola palm and dye plants in north western Botswana. Economic Botany

41(3): 386–402.

Cunningham, A.B. and Terry, M.E. 1993. Basketry, people and resources

management in southern Africa. In: Ganry, F. and Campbell, B. (eds.)

Sustainable land management in African semi-arid and subhumid regions:

proceedings SCOPE workshop 15–19 November 1993, Dakar.

De Steven, D. 1989. Genet and ramet demography of Oenocarpus mapora ssp.

a clonal palm of Panamanian tropical moist forest. Journal of Ecology 77:

579–596.

Environmental Development Activities. 1993 Socio-economic and natural

resource survey of Sengwe communal lands, Zimbabwe. Government of

14PALM.P65 261 22/12/2004, 11:05