Quantifying the Trade in Cycads (Encephalartos Species) in the Traditional Medicine Markets of Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa1

Abstract

Quantifying the Trade in Cycads (Encephalartos Species) in the Traditional MedicineMarkets of Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa. Cycads have been used for traditional purposes for centuries, mainly as a source of starch during droughts and famines. In South Africa, Encephalartos species are traded for traditional medicine (TM) in local TM markets. The 2009 IUCN Red Data assessment for South African flora lists 78% of the 37 indigenous Encephalartos species as "Threatened", with three species already "Extinct in the Wild" (EW). South African cycads face an extinction crisis, primarily due to collecting for the horticultural trade. The trade in Encephalartos for TM also has a significant impact on several species, and is largely understudied. In this paper, the trade in Encephalartos for TM was quantified in South Africa's two largest TM markets, Faraday in Johannesburg and Warwick in Durban. Harvesting of South African Encephalartos for TM involves the removal of bark strips and/or whole stem sections. Encephalartos species were sold at 26% and 13% of the stalls at Faraday and Warwick, respectively, with an estimated 9.0 metric tons traded at Warwick in 2009. Stem samples purchased in the markets were assigned to stem diameter size classes using a size class chart, and regression analysis was used to validate the allocations. Most harvesting was from sub-adult and adult cycads, and it appears that bark strips are removed from large arborescent plants, whereas smaller individuals and subterranean-stemmed species are harvested by removing the entire plant. There is generally a positive relationship between stem diameter and leaf base length as well as stem diameter and pith radius. The former can be used as a predictor of stem diameter size class for market samples that prove difficult to assign to diameter classes using the chart. Overall, this is the first study to quantify the trade in Encephalartos for TM in South Africa with reference to the size classes of the plants traded.

The impacts of bark harvesting on a population of Encephalartos transvenosus (Limpopo cycad), in Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…This showed that harvest of South African cycads for traditional medicine is a threat that is trending among South African cycads, in particular at Mphaphuli Nature Reserve in Limpopo Province, South Africa, where the majority of people indicated that the cycads were harvested mainly for medicinal purposes 10 ( Ravele and Makhado 2009). Bark harvest was the main threat found in the cycad population in this study, and this practice of bark harvest of cycads in South Africa have been reported in a number of previous studies (Donaldson 2006;Cousins et al 2011Cousins et al , 2012Cousins et al , 2013Williams et al 2013Williams et al , 2014Bamigboye et al 2017;Cousins and Witkowski 2017). From our observations, the dead individuals recorded in the population are attributed to bark harvesting as it exposes the plants to fungal infections (Figure 3).…”

Is Non-Timber Forest Product Harvest Sustainable in the Less Developed World? A Systematic Review of the Recent Economic and Ecological Literature

“…But human population growth and especially the increasing commercialization of these plants and plant products-regionally, nationally, and internationally-encourage strategies and intensities of harvest to meet distant markets that these species and ecosystems would seldom have witnessed in the past (Hamilton 2004). Deleterious outcomes are clearly the case for individuals that are regularly killed to retrieve the useful product, such as endangered South African cycads (Cousins et al 2011), Mexican cacti (Jimenez-Sierra and Eguiarte 2010), Costa Rican palms (Sylvester and Avalos 2009), and many others.…”

Exposing the illegal trade in cycad species (Cycadophyta:Encephalartos) at two traditional medicine markets in South Africa using DNA barcoding

“…For example, Cunningham and Davis (1997) found that 30% of the 54 TM shops investigated in KwaZulu-Natal Province sold Encephalartos, averaging a 50 kg size bag annually; 6% of the 50 TM shops surveyed in the Johannesburg area (Williams 2003) sold Encephalartos specimens. Cousins et al (2011) reported that Encephalartos spp. were sold by 26.4% and 13.2% of traders at Faraday and Warwick TM markets, respectively, with an estimated nine metric tons traded at Warwick in 2009.…”

“…Approximately twothirds (25 species) of SA's Encephalartos spp. (known as "isiGqiki-somkovu" in Zulu) are collected for traditional medicinal purposes and illegally traded at traditional medicine (TM) markets, mainly for the protection they offer from evil spirits (Cousins et al 2011(Cousins et al , 2012. Large arborescent species appear to be harvested by removing bark strips from adult individuals, whereas smaller arborescent and subterranean species are harvested by removing the entire plant, stripping off all its characteristic features (Donaldson 2008;Cousins et al 2012).…”