Limpopo villagers keep their mopane and marula trees standing
Rural villages in South Africa have built unique conservation systems.
Two unique rural villages are keeping their traditional mopane and marula trees standing and productive.
Similar woodlands elsewhere in southern Africa are stripped by unregulated harvesting.
For families in these villages, losing their food sources from the trees is not an option.
According to UJ Professor Ndidzulafhi Innocent Sinthumule losing access to the harvest represents a critical blow to food security and income for rural people.
Prof Sinthumule is a researcher in the UJ Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, within the Faculty of Science.
Harvesting mopani worms
His latest study focuses on Muyexe and Matiyane, two villages on the eastern border of the Kruger National Park.
Local chiefs oversee land use because residents depend heavily on it for daily livelihoods. Unemployment levels are between 60% and 80% in Matiyane and about 60.4% in Muyexe, according to 2012 to 2013 information.
In Muyexe, residents harvest mopane worms by hand from the trees and the ground. They wait for the worms to crawl down to the ground rather than climbing trees.
One woman in the study describes how they harvest: “cutting branches off mopane trees is not allowed,” she says.
“There is no reason to do it, because the leaves and stems of the shrubs already carry more than enough worms.”
Only Marulas on the ground can be harvested
At Matiyane, the rule is that marula fruits are only harvested after they have fallen to the ground.
These rules hold because they are anchored in something older than any municipal by-law. Even a marula in someone’s back yard may not be cut.
Cutting any tree species that bear fruits is considered a taboo because these trees, particularly the Marula, are vital for food security, economic livelihood, and cultural survival.
The trees ensure the villagers’ survival during droughts.
Ancestral wisdom passed down through generations
He adds that the taboo, “likely represents centuries of ancestral wisdom passed down through generations. It predates colonial arrival and represents a ‘long-term planning’ approach. Elders teach younger generations to manage trees for future beneficiaries rather than immediate gain.”
In Muyexe, outsiders who want to harvest mopane worms must pay a permit fee and follow rules set by the tribal council and local chiefs.
“The Muyexe system in South Africa works. Similar areas in Namibia and Zimbabwe struggle,” adds Sinthumule.
“Muyexe effectively utilizes Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) through strict, culturally rooted local rules and enforced taboos. They don’t rely solely on weak state law enforcement”.
Image credit: A mopani worm. Image courtesy Animalia
Limpopo villagers keep their mopani and marula trees standing