McCaleb and Simon present A-SNAPP progress at National Summit
February 21, 2000
The National Summit on Africa, held February 16-20, 2000 in
Washington, DC, provided an excellent opportunity to raise awareness
about the Herb Research Foundation's collaborative international
development venture, Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African
Plant Products (A-SNAPP). At the Summit, Rob McCaleb and A-SNAPP
partner Jim Simon, PhD, of Purdue University presented a well-received
overview of the A-SNAPP project in a panel discussion entitled
"Teaming Large U.S. Agribusiness with African Small Farmers:
A Win-Win Situation."
During the panel session, McCaleb discussed the goals and mission
of A-SNAPP, an alliance created to help develop and implement
successful sustainable African natural products businesses,
enhancing economic development in African rural communities.
He also presented an overview of the natural products industry
as it relates to Africa and to the worldwide market. McCaleb
commented, "This is a business that has grown tremendously
in the past five years and has brought increased trade to Asia,
Eastern Europe, and Central and South America, but Africa has
been more or less left out. This is unfortunate, considering
the diversity of climatic and economic conditions there. These
factors really give African countries a great deal of potential
for producing botanicals, both as raw materials and value-added
products."
Simon's presentation focused on a number of plants under development
by A-SNAPP participants, paying particular attention to a cinnamon
leaf and bark essential oil project already successfully underway
in Madagascar. Simon also highlighted the work accomplished
with the native African plants rooibos, honeybush, and buchu.
Before this work began, all of these plants were collected exclusively
from the wild, but have now been brought under cultivation and
are proving profitable to the farmers growing them. Simon has
a wealth of experience assisting African farmers with crop development
and commercialization and is co-founder of the award winning
newCROP online database (www.purdue.edu/newcrop), one of the
most comprehensive online sources of horticultural information
on traditional and specialty crops.
McCaleb and Simon's presentation generated lively discussion
among attendees at the panel session. "There was some very
relevant commentary about whether the opportunities that American
companies are presenting to Africa are limited to raw material
products or whether they also provide the opportunity to add
value and increase profit," McCaleb remarked. "We
addressed the number of ways in which A-SNAPP is helping farmers
to increase the value of the botanicals they produce, with a
goal of improving rural income by concentrating the level of
profit with the farmers as much as possible."
A-SNAPP is a collaborative project of the Herb Research Foundation,
Purdue University, and the South African Agricultural Research
Council (ARC) that is made possible by a grant by the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID). A-SNAPP is focused on
promoting sustainable production of high quality African natural
plant products, in order to help develop and enhance small African
farms and businesses, protect threatened African plants and
traditional medicine systems, improve quality of life for rural
Africans, and provide a source of high-quality raw materials
for the worldwide market.
|
