Southern African Natural Products Trade Association (SANProTA)

An innovative mechanism for development and trade of natural products for rural sustainable livelihoods in southern Africa

The Context

In southern Africa, low-input/output conventional agricultural production in dryland areas, coupled with rapid population growth, has proved increasingly unable to sustain rural livelihoods. More and more rural households are incapable of producing or earning incomes sufficient to guarantee their food security, let alone increase income.

The urgency of finding supplementary sources of income beyond rainfed cultivation and livestock production has led several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and development agencies to explore systematic production of natural products for rural income generation while conserving the environment. These natural products include foods, medicines, cosmetics, essential oils, and crafts.

Exploitation of natural products (NPs) presents a strong potential, particularly considering some of Africa's comparative advantages:

• Africa contains a quarter of the world's biodiversity.
• It has many plant species that can be found only on the continent.
• A third of the continent retains untouched natural habitats.
• Africa has a long history of traditional medical practice predating that of other continents.
• An exceptional variety of natural products is already being used in Africa.

Given the large and expanding worldwide demand for NPs, it is increasingly recognized that with stronger support for the development and trade of these products, the rural poor who produce them could earn considerable incomes. Nevertheless, the tasks of ensuring market supply and quality control are both challenging: these have been major factors in the failure of such initiatives in Africa and elsewhere.

Background of SANProTA

Within this context, the NGO Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE), Zimbabwe, started a Regional Natural Product Development Initiative in 2000, with grant resources from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to investigate the possibility of a regional collaboration that would make better use of available resources for natural product development and trade. IFAD provided timely support for a fact-finding mission to consult a broad range of NGOs and other stakeholders and draw up an analysis of the natural products sector.

The project ended with a workshop in November 2000 that brought together about 30 groups from five countries in the region involved in NP production and trade. It was during that workshop that the idea of creating a multicountry trade association, the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association (SANProTA), was agreed upon and the association established. IFAD is currently processing a technical assistance grant of USD 1 million that will help put SANProTA firmly on its feet and allow the association to assist the livelihood concerns of natural product producers directly and contribute to their economic empowerment.

What Is It?

SANProTA is a regional trade association set up to facilitate the interchange of natural products between rural African producers and the global market. It aims to promote trade in natural products for the economic advancement of producers in the ecologically fragile dry lands in the region, while at the same time encouraging ecological sustainability. As SANProTA's chief executive officer, Gus Le Breton, puts it, "our markets demand proof of sustainable production, and our businesses depend on a sustainable supply, so we have little choice but to ensure that all our products are derived from environmentally sustainable sources".

The association, which functions as an independent, not-for-profit institution, comprises community-based producer groups and associations, processing enterprises and traders, as well as NGOs, development agencies and academic institutions. It currently covers five countries: Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with its secretariat temporarily based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Through collaboration on the research and development of natural products, market information systems and quality control, SANProTA facilitates access of its members to export markets and consumers. Its primary business is to generate, store, share and apply the technical and commercial knowledge needed for the community-based natural products trade to flourish in the region. Its other services include trade promotion, technical advice, policy monitoring and advocacy to ensure an enabling legal and financial environment and framework for trade in natural products.

The specific objectives of SANProTA are to:

• support the natural products trade efforts of poor communities living in marginal areas;
• promote exploitation of natural products on communal lands in an environmentally friendly manner;
• promote only 'responsible commerce', i.e. the payment of fair prices for goods, labour and services, while generating profit;
• hire only highly qualified professionals, with demonstrable technical and commercial skills, as staff and contractors;
• behave as an equal-opportunity employer; and
• work towards financial self-sufficiency in the medium term.

Initially NGO-driven, SANProTA offers an innovative mechanism for combining private-sector and NGO elements to optimize the assets and areas of expertise of both sectors. By bringing in the commercial and financial skills of the private sector, the known pitfalls of NGOs in running businesses are thus addressed, particularly the lack of businesslike approach to sustainable income generation. NGOs, however, continue to work in their areas of comparative advantage, such as community enterprise mobilization and institutional development of producer groups and marketing associations.

Primary beneficiaries would be the community-based natural product producers and traders belonging to member organizations of the association. An estimated 225 000 rural poor individual producers could become involved. The potential value of annual exports of natural products would amount to USD 30 million. Benefits are also expected to accrue to NGOs and other groups supporting the initiative, as well as to non-poor operators in the NP market.

At the launch of SANProTA in September 2001, at the Botswana International Trade Fair in Gaborone, the Permanent Secretary of Botswana's Ministry of Trade, Industry, Wildlife and Tourism, Tswelopele Moremi, spoke of the initiative as a bold and visionary move to bring rural producers and their products into the rapidly expanding global market for natural products. Moremi further remarked that this was the first attempt at the regional level to systematically develop business opportunities from natural products.

For further information:

SANProTA Address: P.O. Box BE 385, Belvedere
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: (+263 ) 91 264 107
Fax: (+263 ) 4 790 470
Email: info@sanprota.co.zw
Website: www.sanprota.co.zw
Contact Person: Gus Le Breton, Chief Executive Officer

IFAD Regional Economist for South and Eastern Africa:
Edward Heinemann