Hoodia Latina

Ghaap is a leafless succulent that grows in clumps of green, upright, fleshy and thorny stems. It takes about 5 years before the pale purple flowers appear and only thereafter can ghaap be harvested.

In order to attract the flies and blowflies which pollinate the plant, the ghaap flower emits a smell of decaying flesh. Ghaap only grows in certain parts of South Africa, Southern Namibia and Southern Botswana.

Not something new

Although ghaap was "rediscovered" relatively recently, the Bushmen (or San) of the Kalahari desert have
been using it for hundreds of years. They have been using ghaap not only to still hunger and thirst, but also to increase their energy levels without any side effects during their long hunting trips. They would pick stems of the ghaap plant about the length of a medium-size cucumber, and nibble on it for a few hours.

But ghaap is not very tasty - I had the opportunity to taste ghaap and it has a bitter-sour taste that stays in one’s mouth for quite a while.

A Dutch anthropologist who studied the San in 1937 noted that they used ghaap to suppress appetite. In1963 scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's national laboratory, began to study ghaap. Initial results were promising as lab animals lost weight after taking ghaap. The CSIR obtained patent rights, which were then sold to a multi-national pharmaceutical company on license. Ghaap’s popularity skyrocketed during 2004, after its dietary potential came to light.

Why ghaap?

Today Hoodia gordonii is the most talked about natural appetite suppressant in the world. Its active component (called molecule P57) tricks the brain by making one think that one’s tummy is full. This helps people to eat less and to feel sated more quickly. Ghaap has almost no calories.

Controlling ghaap

The harvesting of this plant is carefully controlled to prevent it from being harvested to the point of extinction. Pieter van Niekerk, Head of Special Investigations at the Northern Cape Department of Tourism, Environment and Conservation told SERVAMUS that less than 5 years ago, one could see ghaap growing next to the road in certain parts of the Northen Cape, but now one only finds ghaap deeper in the veld and mountains. This is due to the international demand for ghaap. Wild ghaap is now under threat after being hammered so hard by people trying to make a quick buck that it may become extinct soon if it is not policed properly. According to an article that appeared in the Daily News in November 2006, about 500 tonnes of the succulent were cut from the wild for export during 2006.

Conservation status of ghaap

Ghaap is currently listed in Appendix II to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which includes species that are not currently considered endangered but are at risk if trade is not controlled. Members of the Southern African Hoodia Growers’ Association (SAHGA) are registered by the nature conservation authorities in the relevant province. The ghaap trade is regulated by CITES, as it is a protected species.

The trading organisation (SAHGA) is a ghaap growers’ association and has been established to protect the interests of the ghaap industry in Southern Africa. SAHGA has also signed a benefit-sharing agreement with the San in order to acknowledge the San’s indigenous knowledge.

Reasons for poaching ghaap

Pure ghaap extract is expensive, as the ghaap plant needs specific conditions in which to grow and ripen. It grows wild in desert-like areas, and is dependent on specific temperature ranges and limited moisture conditions to successfully mature. The process of maturation itself ranges from 4 to 7 years. These reasons limit the availability of ghaap and increase its price. Greedy people don’t care - they will take the opportunity to harvest and sell ghaap illegally in an attempt to make as much money as possible. The price for dry ghaap depends on the market and can range between R500 and R1000/kg.

Permits to harvest ghaap

It is important to bear in mind that each province with naturally-occurring ghaap has unique management strategies for ghaap. In the Western Cape, the ghaap industry is strictly controlled, with wild harvesting having been suspended during 2007. All ghaap permits issued in the Western Cape are issued solely for the harvesting and selling of cultivated ghaap.

In the Northern Cape people can obtain a permit to harvest ghaap from the veld, but the profit generated by the sale of the ghaap harvested from the wild in terms of these permits must be used to establish a nursery. Only 20% of the plant may be harvested, and no harvesting is allowed when the plant is flowering.

During harvesting, the fleshy part of the stem is picked. This part is then dried, ground up and used in powder form.

have to inform nature conservation when they harvest ghaap as nature conservation officials must go out and weigh the crop before it leaves the farm for the drying facilities. There are currently six drying facilities in the region (one in the Northern Cape and five in the Western Cape) and the necessary documentation must always accompany the ghaap to the drying facilities. In terms of the latest legislation every person trading in ghaap would be required to enter into a benefit-sharing agreement with the San Council and pay royalties towards the San community.

A team to police ghaap in the Northern Cape

A task team consisting of four members from the Northern Cape Department of Tourism, Environment and Conservation: Pieter van Niekerk, Nico Loubsher, Leon Muller and Elmarie Heyns and three police members from the Calvinia Dog Unit: Insp Jacques Buys, Insp Theo Schutte and Insp Jan du Toit, investigate ghaap-related issues. Pieter and his colleague, Nico, were full of praise for the members of the Dog Unit and said that without their support, they would not be able to boast with their successes.

When they started out, the task team often worked through the night, but after they had achieved many successes, their work circumstances have improved and currently they are only monitoring the harvesting of ghaap.

Successes

The first case that the task team investigated was in Groblershoop during May 2006. In February 2008 a man was arrested on the road between Calvinia and Nieuwoudtville with 500 kg (28 bags) of dried ghaap chips, worth R250 000. This was the first case in the Northern Cape that is to be tried under the new Threatened or Protected Species (Tops) regulations, which list Hoodia gordonii as a protected species. According to these regulations, the prescribed sentences include fines of up to three times the value of the confiscated product.

Another case being investigated is a case in which 284 bags with a value of R3 million were confiscated. A computer was also seized as it was suspected that the computer was being used to produce false permits.

Ghaap is protected worldwide and in December 2006, Beeld reported about ghaap that was even confiscated in Wellington, New Zealand.

What happens to the confiscated ghaap?

According to Pieter, the ghaap is sold on tender as soon as the case has been finalised in court.