The Eastern Cape is adding new crops to the large basket the province already produces. Medicinal plant gatherers are to become small-scale growers in a King William’s Town project to encourage the growing of muti (medicine) plants. The R350 000 three-year project is a collaboration between Rhodes University and Wageningen University in the Netherlands. It is based on a study which showed that supplies of medicinal plants were declining due to environmentally destructive harvesting techniques. Eighty percent of gatherers, healers, traders and consumers were prepared to use cultivated plants, the study found. The province has one of the most diverse agricultural sectors in South Africa.