National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004)

Notices

Non-Detriment find Assessment for Aloe ferox (Bitter Aloe)

Table 1: Detailed NDF assessment for Aloe ferox undertaken in accordance with the CITES NDF checklist.

Harvest management

13. Aim of harvest regime in management planning
Purchase cart Previous page Return to chapter overview Next page

 

What is harvest aiming to achieve?

Generate conservation benefit

1

Population management/control

2

Maximize economic yield

3

Opportunistic, unselective harvest, or none

4

Uncertain

5

 

Industry stakeholders strongly believe that the species has an important economic value and A. ferox is harvested with an aim of maximizing economic yield, whilst allowing for appropriate regrowth. Tappers though generally harvest to meet their livelihood needs and are not necessarily profit driven. In cases where prices paid for bitters and aloe leaves were increased, the quantities harvested decreased proportionally as tappers needed to harvest fewer products to meet their livelihood needs. Income generated by harvesting ventures reportedly range between R400 and R1000 per month in the Eastern Cape (Malin, 2009) and was estimated to be R10 000 per annum for a full time tapper (harvesting all year round) in the Western Cape in 1992 (Newton and Vaughan, 1996). Recent figures are not available but the increasing economic value of A. ferox most likely ensures that most tappers are incentivised to harvest using sustainable practices to secure their livelihoods in the long term.

 

In communal lands in the Eastern Cape, there are some cases of opportunistic, unselective harvesting occurring that aims to maximize profits without any consideration of sustainability