“Rural communities hold the key to strengthening the province’s aloe industry,” says Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) project development specialist Tokozile Boboyi.

This is the message from Boboyi who addressed to the Aloe Symposium which is being held in Grahamstown.

Boboyi, who heads the corporation’s aloe project, says aloe harvesting, which takes place in the veld, is becoming increasingly competitive with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal already calling for proposals on how they could develop aloe farming in these regions.

“Our experience is that communities hold the key to success. They have hundreds of years of indigenous knowledge of the plant. This knowledge has helped Ikhala Products develop two Aloe Ferox cosmetic ranges as well variety of juice combinations (honeybush and lemon),” explains Boboyi.

“Communities are also invaluable ears-and-eyes for protecting the aloe, especially as our province is experiencing uncontrolled harvesting by players coming into the province,” adds Boboyi.

“In order to protect the province’s Aloe Ferox resources – the Eastern Cape is home to 80 per cent of South Africa’s Aloe Ferox plant, the variety of aloe with the highest medicinal properties, we need to involve our communities.

“Communities who depend on aloe tapping are crucial to this process because they have a vested interest in protecting the source of their revenue. They also understand that conversation is central to this plan.

“We also need better controls. Our provincial authorities need to relook at the penalties for illegal harvesting. The aloe is a powerful symbol to our province. It represents economic revival for rural communities and we should impose “cycad-type” penalties,” says Boboyi.

“Furthermore, companies who work with communities can use this involvement to unlock new markets as is the case with Ikhala Products which have accessed the Canadian and United States’ markets. Afro Americans consumers want to benefit local communities and create jobs.

The symposium’s 120 delegates, which includes a handful of investors, are to tour Ikhala Products plant in Seymour, about 200 kilometres from East London. The group will experience tappers using traditional and new methods to tap aloes.