Markets for marama beans in southern Africa: Linking sustainable products with sustainable livelihoods

Figures & data

Table 6: Summary of consumer demographics for three marama products in three countries

	Marama milk, Botswana (n = 74)	Fortified porridge, South Africa (n = 52)	Marama snacks, Namibia (n = 51)
Gender
Male	26%	58%	47%
Female	74%	42%	53%
Place of residence
Urban	86%	81%	75%
Rural	14%	14%	25%
Level of education
Secondary	62%	54%	59%
Diploma	5%	6%	18%
Undergraduate	19%	38%	20%
Postgraduate	14%	2%	3%
Income
Low income	39%	62%	50%
Middle income	28%	10%	30%
High income	33%	28%	20%
Age
Minimum	17 years	18 years	18 years
Maximum	64 years	24 years	49 years
Mean	26.58 years	21.07 years	22.72 years
Mode	22 years	21 years	22 years
Shopping for number of people
Minimum	1	1	1
Maximum	10	15	20
Mean	4.14	4.12	4.15

Table 1: Marama beans seasonal chart

	Month
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Gathered fresh	x	x
Gathered dry			x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Sold			x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

Figure 1. Beans being sold in Sandveld, Namibia

Table 2: Marama selling prices in April 2007 (Botswana) and April 2008 (South Africa and Namibia)

	Namibia		Botswana		South Africa
Marama	N$/cup(locally)	N$/cup(in town)	Pula/cup(locally)	Pula/cup(in town)	Rand/cup(in town)	Rand/litre(locally)
Ripe (uncooked)	2.00–3.00	–	3.00–4.00	–	–	6.00
Fresh (uncooked)	–	–	–	–	–	6.00
Roasted with shell	–	–	5.00	–	–	10.00
Roasted unshelled	5.00	5. 50	7.00–8.00	5.00–6.00	5.00–6.00	–

Table 3: Marama informal market at the community level (field-work results)

	Botswana	South Africa	Namibia
Market economy	Lack of raw material. Sold roasted or raw, surplus stored. Small quantities sold to neighbouring villages and nearest urban areas (small margins/profits). Few vendors, little competition. Prices defined by seller, non- or limited negotiation. Slightly higher prices in nearby towns. Problems with transport.	Raw material supplied by sellers, who also gather the beans. Household consumption or sold directly to neighbours, not openly (no street vendors). Some farm workers sell outside farming areas.	Raw material supplied by sellers. Beans gathered by sellers or children or San people hired by Herero farmers. Household consumption or sold to neighbouring villages and nearest urban areas (in Okakarara by street vendors).
Resource management/environment	Previously, seasonal activity. Some rules set by traditional leaders to protect marama plants. Now plants being exhausted near villages, sustainability at risk. Few marama in fields due to drought and land privatisation. Regulations needed to protect plants and local environment.	Plenty of marama beans in fields in good years although previously more plentiful. Some destroyed by animals – no fences. Use of land for other crops has destroyed some plants. Farmers claim need for protection.	More marama in the past. Less now due to drought. Plenty of marama beans in the fields in good years.
			Fields used to gather marama and other wild products, mostly in communal areas.
Social/ Institutional	Gatherers lack legal rights, walk long distances to find high yield marama plants. Gathering expeditions becoming rare – access to fields increasingly difficult. San people who previously gathered now depend on government food aid. Most gathering now done by individuals, mostly women and children. Women control the marama market chain. Local institutions and associations not involved. This could be a cooperative initiative.	Gatherers lack legal rights. White farmers eat marama beans as snack, use farm workers to gather marama. Marama areas protected from intrusion. Access increasingly difficult for black population now living outside farms. Poor people in townships not far from ‘marama areas’ use marama to alleviate hunger.	Gathering expeditions becoming rare. Young people not interested, children are at school. In some cases authorisation required, since cattle gates may be left open. On one farm gatherers were transported by farm supervisor to gathering areas.
Science and technology	Post-harvest operations limited to storage and roasting (small quantities). Only rudimentary skills needed. No machinery involved. Oil and body lotions extracted (exceptional). Tubers seldom used.	Post-harvest operations limited to storage and roasting. Rudimentary skills needed. No machinery involved.	Post-harvest operations: limited to storage and roasting. Only rudimentary skills needed. No machinery involved. Oil extracted by San people. Tubers seldom used.
Source: Lecup and Nicholson (2000).

Table 4: Recent research on the cultivation of marama

Date	Title	Author
2007	Germination and emergence of the hard seed coated Tylosema esculentum (Burch) A. Schreib in response to different pre-sowing seed treatments.	Travlos, IS
2005	Systematic studies in Tylosema (Leguminosae).	Castro, S
2002	Functional heterostyly in Tylosema esculentum (Caesalpinioideae).	Hartley, ML
1999	Assessment of symbiont nitrogen nutrition in Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum L.), a tuber-producing underutilised African grain legume.	Dakora, FD
1987	Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum, Fabaceae) seed crop in Texas.	Powell, AM
1985	Potential for the in vitro propagation of a number of economically important plant for arid areas.	Woods, A
1985	Protease inhibitors of the Marama bean.	Starcher, B
1983	Voeringselle van ‘n Tylosema esculentum-stamper.	Coetzer, LA
1981	Marama bean of the Kalahari Desert as a potential food crop, with a summary of current research in Texas.	Bousquet, J
1981	Morfologie van die sporoderm van Tylosema esculentum en T. fassoglense.	Coetzer, LA
Source: USDA (2007).

Table 5: Developing marama products at the national level (SWOT analysis)

Strengths	In the rural areas villagers showed readiness to engage in an experimental project and were positive about generating profits from such a project.
	In some rural villages (especially in Namibia) the correlation between developing small processing industries and an increase in populations’ well-being appeared to have some measure of sustainability.
	Already existing informal market chains could be further developed.
	There is so far no competition,
	NGOs are developing projects in some of the surveyed areas and building capacity that could be used by such a project.
	The raw material can be stored and kept in storage (at minimum cost) without deteriorating, and this overcomes constraints related to seasonality.
Weaknesses	Risk of lack of raw material in particular bad (climacteric) years.
	Bad road conditions may prevent marama products reaching other regions.
	Bad telecommunications channels.
Opportunities	Create employment for marama gatherers amongst the poorer communities.
	Create employment for women.
	Local consumers' uses of marama as a food supplement mixed with other foods (e.g. porridges) are a good opportunity to try diverse products.
	Marama products will enhance food security and improve nutritive content of food.
Threats	There is a risk that ethnic and social differences may increase and the benefits will not reach the very poor (e.g. the San).
	Marama may become a cash crop instead of a nutritive food in the areas where the project will be implemented.
	The project as a whole may not be sustainable if skills and supervision are insufficient.

Table 7: Summary of consumer experience and exposure to prototype product categories

	Long-life milk,Botswana (n = 74)	Fortified porridge, SouthAfrica (n = 52)	Snacks, Namibia(n = 51)
Spend per month on product
Minimum	P10	R0	N$0
Maximum	P800	R250	N$300
Mean	P110.71	R68.71	N$24.42
Seen/heard about type of product
Yes	99%	37%	99%
No	1%	63%	1%
Bought type of product
Yes	99%	33%	99%
No	1%	67%	1%
Purchased product	Only dairy 92%	Maize 40%	Only dairy 92%
	Only soy 0%	Sorghum 10%	Only soy 0%
	Combination 8%	Oats 33%	Combination 8%
		Wheat 17%
Frequency of purchase
Annually	0%	8%	0%
Six monthly	7%	8%	7%
Monthly	43%	79%	43%
Weekly	51%	6%	51%
Have heard about health benefits
Yes	40%	46%	40%
No	60%	54%	60%
Significant health benefits	High in protein 50%	High in energy 27%	High in protein 53%
	Low in cholesterol 27%	High in fibre 25%	High in unsaturated fat 26%
	Lactose free 12%	High in protein 21%	Low in cholesterol 18%
	High in fibre 9%	High in vita & min 21%	High in sterols 6%
	High in isoflavones 2%	Low in cholesterol 16%	High in antioxidants 4%
		Lactose free 1%
		Gluten free 1%

Figure 2. Consumer willingness to pay for marama products

Lecup , I and Nicholson , K . 2000 . Community-based Tree and Forest Product Enterprises: Market Analysis and Development , Rome, , Italy : FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) Publication and Multimedia Service .

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USDA (United Stated Department of Agriculture) . 2007 . National Agricultural Library . http://openagricola.nal.usda.gov/Search/Results?lookfor=tylosema&type=AllFields&submit=Find Accessed 23 June 2011

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