12 Jun 2019

Kgalagadi District Council chairperson, Mr Meleko Thumpe has called on entrepreneurs to strive for sustainable use of veld products to avoid extinction.

He said they had a responsibility to ensure that these resources were conserved while at the same time being used for economic gain.

Mr Thumpe was speaking at the Promotion of Sustainable Utilisation and Marketing of Veld Products workshop in Kanye on June 11 which had attracted entrepreneurs from various parts of the country who use veld products for business.

He said the workshop was long overdue as most people who were trading with these products were not well informed on their sustainable use and the impact of overusing them.

“We need to come up with ways that can benefit our livelihoods while at the same time conserving veld products to avoid factors contributing to climate change and unreliable rainfall patterns that are currently a concern in our country,” he said.

He said since conservation was not easy, there was need for stakeholder collaboration to engage one another on the best possible strategies to achieve such.

Mr Thumpe also emphasised the need to assess and evaluate the value chain to see how best local people could benefit from the resources.

For his part, the Department of Forestry and Range Resources coordinator for Ramotswa, Mr Sindisa Major said even though veld products had been used for various purposes since time immemorial, the increased usage had resulted in challenges that may cause extinction.

Additionally, he said research had indicated that the resources were costly, yet they were being sold at low rates.

Therefore, he noted that government established Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) teams to help protect veld products for sustainable development as well as in the regulation of prices.

However, Mr Major regretted that some entrepreneurs were still reluctant to be part of the CBNRM, hence the need for further sensitisation.

One of the attendants, Ms Thandy Lebotse said sustainability should start with planting back the species being used for business.

This, she noted, would save veld products from extinction and enable continuous use.

On the issue of pricing, she noted that even though prices should be determined by the processes involved, there was need to align with international rates.

“Our prices should range around the same with our neighbouring countries who have similar products,” she said.

Another attendant, Mr Dominic Botshelo called for fencing of some plant species that were facing extinction as a way of regulating usage for sustainability.

He also said there was need for introspecting the value chain since local people who were involved in harvesting the  products did not benefit as much as end users. ENDS