The trade in Pelargonium sidoides: Rural livelihood relief or bounty for the ‘bio-buccaneers’?

Abstract

Historically, the trade benefits of medicinal plants have been skewed towards technologically advanced Northern countries, despite originating from the biologically rich South. Since the 1990s, attempts at rectifying this situation have been stepped up globally. In southern Africa, a substantial industry has developed around the use of the endemic plant Pelargonium sidoides as a cure for respiratory tract infections. Rural communities harvest the plant for trade and also hold traditional knowledge about it. However, the industry has been plagued by concerns about the sustainability of the resource and equitable sharing of benefits, and accusations of ‘biopiracy’. This study examines the value chain to identify blockages preventing better benefit capture by the rural poor. We conclude that the Biodiversity Convention offers opportunities for redress but that monopolistic control, complex and uncoordinated laws, elite capture of benefits and increased cultivation undermine benefit sharing. These problems need to be overcome if rural communities are not to lose their benefits to large corporations exploiting Pelargonium sidoides.

Keywords:

• access and benefit sharing
• bioprospecting
• non-timber forest product
• Pelargonium sidoides
• traditional knowledge
• value chain

Notes

¹The Bioprospecting Access and Benefit Sharing (BABS) Regulations in terms of the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) (No. 10 of 2004) came into force on 1 April 2008.

²NEMBA (South Africa) provides for the compilation of Biodiversity Management Plans in Section 43. A draft BMP for P. sidoides has been compiled and will be published for public comment by the DEA.

³The origin of the name ‘Umckaloabo’ is unclear, but it may be based on the Zulu words umKhulane, a term for various ailments with symptoms such as fever and coughing, and uHlabo, meaning ‘stinging breast pain’ (Bladt, 1974, cited in Brendler & Van Wyk, 2008).

⁴Precise figures could not be deduced from harvesting permits because much of the harvesting is done illegally and is therefore not recorded (interview, N Bam, 8 April 2009). Moreover, representatives of Schwabe would not disclose the volumes of material sourced from southern Africa. Estimates given are thus based on information gathered during interviews conducted for this study, published work (Lewu et al., 2007; Newton, 2009) and triangulation of results from focus group discussions.

⁵Exchange rate at 31 March 2011: 1USD = 6.8ZAR.

⁶The Pelargonium industry is shrouded in secrecy and it was extremely difficult to obtain figures relating to the costs of production, Schwabe's costs for research and development, and volumes produced. We are therefore unable to provide a reliable comparison between the price received by harvesters and the retail price per kg.

⁷The Masakhane community group consists of residents from various farms in the Alice area which were previously occupied by white farmers.

⁸Gibbon & Ponte (2005) use the term ‘functional downgrading’, as an antonym to ‘upgrading’, to explain the way producers may focus on fewer or simpler products while increasing volumes or quality, or give up processing to focus on production.