Hoodia Commercial cultivation has started. In a couple of years we will see more hoodia comming from commercial cultivation projects.

Reproduced from an article originally published at Hoodia California.

In various articles along this site, we have cited Hoodia Gordonii is a natural plant -in fact, a succulent, not a cactus- growing wild in the Kalahari and Namib deserts.

With the hoodia market growing at a large pace year after year, most laboratories manufacturing hoodia products, needs to have a reliable supply of the product.

As the wild product collected in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana has severe restrictions to be traded, mostly because hoodia gordonii is included into the endagered species to be protected by CITES, the hoodia commercial cultivation has become a reality.

The largest pharmaceutical companies and largest hoodia manufacturers has started their own hoodia plantations, or reached agreements with farmers to produce hoodia gordonii on a commercial basis, mostly in South Africa.

Other hoodia gordonii plantations are also being developed -at a nursery stage yet- in Israel and Spain (Canary Islands). In Namibia and Zimbabwe some new projects are starting also.

There are other wild hoodia plantations but not gordonii, probably in Mexico and China. But remember: Such species don´t have the appetite suppression effects.

Is it difficult to grow Hoodia Gordonii?

In fact, the answer is YES. But let me explain.

First point to consider is the land and climate. You must to search for an appropriate land that owns similar characteritics or emulates the wild conditions where the hoodia gordonii plant growns naturally. The natural habitat of Hoodia is the Kalahari desert, in particular the Karoo area, which is in the central  part of South Africa,  South Western and Northern Cape, and the Namib desert, which is in Namibia close to Angola.

Hoodia gordonii needs sandy soil and excellent drainage to grow. There are not many places with identical or similar conditions at worldwide level.

The climate at the Kalahari desert is very particular.  The place to cultivate hoodia gordonii must have a desert like temperature. Not easy to find everywhere.

You must also have a similar climate, soil conditions and environment to produce hoodia gordonii. For instance, in some mexican deserts you find similar land and climate, with sandy soil with but the flyes (not bees) that pollinates the hoodia gordonii flowers don´t exist.  To attract the flies, their blooms emit a strong and repulsive odor. Not many farmers are attracted to it.

The other key point to consider is time. It takes from 5 to 7 years for hoodia gordonii to reach full maturity, the time varying accordingly to climate and soil conditions.

By the way, hoodia gordonii seeds are difficult to find and also expensive.

With the actual market conditions, Hoodia must be grown commercially for commercial purposes. In the next years, there is no chance that wild hoodia plants will be enough to satisfy the demand without serious harm to the hoodia species.

Those combinated factors creates a situation where hoodia gordonii plant supplies are very scarce, which have direct implications on the final price. And remember: The only hoodia with weight loss effects is hoodia gordonii. Always buy pure and real hoodia gordonii, with full certificates to assure you are buying the good product for your health.

By Daniel Avaro

Manager, Hoodia California