Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

South Africa is overlooking the economic potential of Aloe Ferox

25 March 2025 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Andre Damons

Dr Gerard Verhoef, an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation specialist at Barnard Incorporated Attorneys, gave an oral presentation at the second Southern African Mountain Conference.

South Africa is neglecting and overlooking the economic potential of Aloe ferox, forfeiting millions in potential revenue from this ‘green gold’. In doing so, the country is denying farmers and communities the chance to prosper from the land’s true bounty and is also undermining its biodiversity.

While South Africa harvests a mere 200 tons of Aloe ferox annually, its global competitors, such as Mexico, churn out a staggering 400 000 tons of Aloe vera, says Dr Gerard Verhoef, an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation specialist at Barnard Incorporated Attorneys. He gave an oral presentation titled IKS, the public domain and Biotrade during a session on Mountain People's Livelihoods at the second Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2025).

Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from across Southern Africa and beyond came together from 17 to 20 March at the scenic Champagne Sports Resort in the central Maluti-Drakensberg for SAMC2025 themed ‘Overcoming Boundaries and Barriers’.

The next rooibos

SAMC2025, under the patronage of UNESCO and organised by the University of the Free State (UFS) Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) – in partnership with the African Mountain Research Foundation (AMRF) and the Global Mountain Safeguard Research Programme (GLOMOS) – delved into critical issues around mountain ecosystems, communities, governance, and transboundary cooperation.

Aloe ferox could be the next rooibos, which is successfully using its geographical indications (GI) status to unlock value throughout the biotrade value chain, Dr Verhoef said. Other South African plants that are also an underutilised asset with economic potential for the country, include honeybush, baobab, umsuzwane, rose geranium, imphepho, Cape chamomile, Kalahari melon, mafura, sour plum, and African ginger.

A GI consists of the name of the place of origin. It links a product to a specific geographical area, which indicates the origin of where the product is produced, processed, or prepared.

Overlooking the potential of Aloe ferox, which has been scientifically proven to contain double the amino acids and 20 times more antioxidants than its international cousin, Aloe vera, Dr Verhoef explains, South Africa is not only undermining its biodiversity but also the economy. Aloe ferox is most popularly used for its laxative effect (aloe bitters) and as a topical application to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. It is also used for many traditional uses as well as cosmetic purposes.

Time to capitalise

According to him, Aloe ferox remains an underutilised asset, relegated to niche markets and small-scale production due to regulatory constraints and the unwillingness to obtain access and benefit-sharing (ABC) permits needed to navigate obstacles in South Africa as well as Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

“This is not just an agricultural oversight; it is a glaring economic misstep. It is high time that South Africa capitalises on its green gold, turning the tables on international competitors and finally giving Aloe ferox the global podium it deserves. This is not just an agricultural oversight; it is a glaring economic misstep.

“Aloe ferox could be a flagship in the global wellness market, much like rooibos has become for tea. But until we embrace and promote our indigenous resources with the same vigour as we do foreign ones, our ‘green gold’ will remain just out of reach, a latent promise unfulfilled. It’s high time South Africa capitalise and turn the tables on international competitors, finally giving Aloe ferox the global podium it deserves,” said Dr Verhoef.

The path forward, he explains, requires a radical shift in how we view and value our native species. It demands a coalition of dedicated scientists, legal advisers, and farmers to advocate for more accommodating regulations and stronger market support. The pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries – major users of aloe products – must also be brought into the fold to help recalibrate the scales in favour of Aloe ferox. South Africa’s rich biodiversity is a national treasure, yet our approach to leveraging this wealth remains timid and fragmented.

News Archive

Multi-disciplinary research approach at UFS

2005-10-25

UFS follows multi-disciplinary research approach with opening of new centre

“A new way of doing business in necessary in the research and teaching of agriculture and natural sciences in South Africa. We must move away from departmentalised research infrastructures and a multi-disciplinary approach to research involving several disciplines must be adapted,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof van Schalkwyk delivered the keynote address during the launch of the Centre for Plant Health Management (CePHMa) at the Main Campus in Bloemfontein today (21 October 2005). CePHMa is an initiative of the UFS Department of Plant Sciences.

According to Prof van Schalkwyk a tertiary institution must practice multi-disciplinary research to be a world-class research institution. “It is difficult for researchers to admit that they do not know a lot about each other’s area of speciality. It is therefore necessary for researchers to make a paradigm shift and to focus on inter-disciplinary co-operation. To do this, we must encourage them to work together and to find a common language to communicate ideas en establish symbiotic relationships,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

“We tend to think that research is better and faster if it is specialised. This is not true. The new generation of scientists are young and they are trained to form a concept of the total system and not to focus on a specific area of speciality. At the UFS we encourage this approach to research. This was one of the main reasons for the establishment of CePHMa,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.
CePHMa is the only centre of its kind in Africa and is established to extend the expertise in plant health management in South Africa and in Africa, to train experts in plant health and to conduct multi-disciplinary research about the health of agricultural crops.

“CePHMa is a virtual centre comprising of ten disciplines applicable to crop production and crop protection,” said Prof Wijnand Swart, Chairperson of CePHMa during the opening ceremony.

“The UFS is the leading institution in Africa in terms of news crop development and manages three research programmes that concentrate on new crops, i.e. the New Crop Pathology Programme, the New Crop Development Programme and the Insects on New Crops Programme. Other applied research programmes that are unique to the UFS are genetic resistance to rust diseases of small grain crops and sustainable integrated disease management of field crops,” said Prof Swart.

“Because the expected growth in population will be 80% in 2020 in sub-Saharan Africa, the future demands of food produce in Africa will be influenced. Therefore research will in future be focused on ways to improve food security by employing agricultural systems that are economically viable and environmentally sound,” said Prof Swart.

“Thorough knowledge of the concept of holistic plant health management is crucial to meet the challenge and it is therefore imperative that innovative crop protection and crop production strategies, with particular emphasis on plant health, be adopted. This is why the Department of Plant Sciences initiated the establishment of CePHMA,” he said.

According to Prof Swart there is a shortage of expertise in plant health management. “The UFS has shown the potential to address the demand of the sub-continent of Africa regarding expertise training and CePHMa is the leader in southern Africa to provide in this need,” he said.

The appropriateness and quality of training in plant health management is reflected in the fact that students from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, Angola, Mozambique and Lesotho have already been trained or are in the process of being trained in at the UFS.

Scientists from CePHMa have forged partnerships with numerous national and international institutions including the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), various community trusts, seed, pesticide and agricultural chemical companies, in addition to overseas universities.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
21 October 2005

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept