Nguni Diyasen gently loosens the earth with a hoe and then widens the hole with her bare hands. Fifty centimetres down she uncovers the light brown root of a devil’s claw. Used to treat arthritis and rheumatism, the plant also constitutes her only income.

Drying devil's claw: profitable and sustainable harvest of the plant is threatened by numerous challenges. Credit: Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

“On average the devil’s claw yields the harvesters U.S. $50 per season. This lasts from June to October and any harvester spends as much as six weeks collecting his quota,” says Johannes Litcholo of Omega village in Bwabwata National Park in north-east Namibia.

“For this we gather our children and all our belongings, load water on our donkeys and venture deep into the bush where the plants are found in sandy soils. Sometimes we encounter herds of elephants that want our water, other times harvesters are chased into trees by lions.”

The Khwe, a tribe of the San people, are the original inhabitants of the area. Today, they spend their days on abandoned army bases, desolate reminders of the liberation war for independence from South Africa. Used as trackers by the South African army in the bush war, the Khwe felt the wrath of the post-independence majority government. Their movements in the park restricted by park regulations, old skills like tracking and hunting are being rapidly forgotten and alcoholism and HIV/AIDS are rife.

Devil’s claw, scientific name Harpagophytum zeyheri, or Xam!abo to the Khwe, has been a natural remedy for arthritis. “If your leg is bent and you can’t get it straight you use this plant,” explains harvester Dickson Spreuke.

“The trade was unregulated and unsustainable,” recalls Friedrich Alpers from Integrated Resource Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) that promotes income generation for Bwabwata residents through organic harvesting of plants, tourism and trophy hunting.

“Pick-up trucks would arrive in the middle of the night and pay the Khwe a dismal amount for devil’s claw.”

Two years ago IRDNC secured a contract between Kyaramacan, representing the 5,000 residents of the park and a exporter that guaranteed a fair price. An organic harvesting programme trained 361 harvesters who in 2009 gathered 18 tonnes of devil’s claw.

As Diyasen cuts off a tuber the size of her forearm, she explains that the vital tap root of the plant is left intact to ensure proper re-growth. The tuber is cut with a stainless steel knife to prevent contamination and laid out on a net to dry, out of reach of hungry chickens and curious predators. The hole that was dug is carefully closed up, so the plant can be harvested again in the future.

“All these measures are taken to ensure sustainable and organic harvesting, for which there is a market overseas,” says Alpers.

“In 2008 the price was $2 per kilogramme, which is quite high,” adds Litcholo. “But because of the recession and stockpiling by producers last year the price halved. With an organic harvesting certificate we hope the price to get $3 per kilogramme.”

But Dave Cole, manager Indigenous Natural Products of the Millennium Challenge Account warns against inflated expectations. “I wish the harvesters would get even more, but the reality in the market is different.”

Indeed the offer of the exporter to the Bwabawata group for the 2010 devil’s claw harvest turns out to be a disappointing $1.30 per kilogramme.

Still, Cole argues that actively involving the harvesters as managers of a sustainable resource is the best way to build up a sustainable harvesting industry. “Organic harvesting and organising the export industry in a way that recognises the Khwe’s role in the production chain is vital. Only then will income from the pharmaceuticals trickle all the way back down to the community.”

However, the resource might be under pressure as biodiversity in Bwabwata is threatened. Climate change is one factor that has the Khwe worried.

“The elders are saying that it is getting hotter and that there’s less rain,” says Spreuk, sitting in the shade of a manketti tree, another important resource for the community. “If it becomes dryer this will not be good for the plants, they will become scarce.”

A more immediate concern is the advent of agriculture in some areas of the park.

Although the profits from devils’ claw are small, for most harvesters it’s the only source of cash income.

“We have no income other than the plants,” clarifies Kyaramcan manager Litcholo “Because this is a national park where animals live we can’t start businesses, or hunt, like in the old days. When we try to grow crops elephants come and destroy the fields because we cannot fence them.”

The granting of a potentially lucrative trophy hunting concession has been delayed for years, in part due to interference by unscrupulous safari operators.

“We are waiting for the hunting, but until then we survive on pension funds, drought relief and veld food. Hunger is a reality,” says Litcholo.

While there are still sizeable quantities of devil’s claw buried deep in the sandy soils of Bwabwata Park, increasing development, mass-tourism, climate change and pollution are real threats to the area’s biodiversity. The Khwe could be instrumental in protecting precious natural resources, but politics and the market are working against them.

* This story is part of a series of features on biodiversity by IPS, CGIAR/Bioversity International, IFEJ and UNEP/CBD, members of Communicators for Sustainable Development (http://www.complusalliance.org).