We are HAPPENING this month in the media! We have an article on baobab oil in Wellness Magazine, our boabab fruit powder is featured in Elle Magazine and we're flying with Mango in their latest inflight magazine! All power to the baobab tree!
It's been a good year – baobab harvesters
The area where baobabs are found is usually very arid and the climate not easy to grow crops in. Many of the harvesters with whom I work have fields around their villages where they do dry-land cropping for food and to supplement income. Dry-land cropping means that there is no irrigated water to the fields and they have to rely […] Continue Reading
Local headman and I chat about baobabs
One of the wonderful things about my job is that it is so varied, from production, to resource monitoring to community friendships. Our relationship with the harvesters starts with the headman in each village. I have had a relationship with some of the village headmen for over 10 years now. I always love visiting them and we always end […] Continue Reading
Ecoproducts and Esse support rural crèche
One of the villages where some of our harvesters live has a little crèche which is so needed while mothers go out to work. Yet they have so very little in the way of even basic resources for busy, active, growing little children. Recently on one of my monitoring trips, I was able to take some chairs and tables to the little […] Continue Reading
Monitoring with baobab harvesters
Last week I did my annual baobab fruit monitoring trip where I gather research information on a spcecific population of 40 baobab trees. This year I am looking at how much fruit each tree produces each year and how that varies from season to season and between land use types. Usually I have a field assistant whom I hire from the village, but […] Continue Reading
Bioprospecting – what does it mean?
What is a bioprospecting permit? And why is EcoProducts Bioprospecting permit such a big deal? On the 12 November 2013, EcoProducts was issued with a Bioprospecting permit from the South Africa Department of Environment Affairs. So what, you may ask, is this all about? South Africa has introduced laws that make it illegal to harvest our indigenous resources for commercial […] Continue Reading
Film maker Greg Cameron: do less, do it better, make it matter more
Recently, Greg Cameron was commissioned by PhytoTrade to make a film on baobabs in which he records the stories of the baobab fruit collectors and how baobab fruit help them improve their lives. Here, Itai Chibiya, PhytoTrade's Monitoring and Research Evaluator is being filmed while being interviewed. EcoProducts was chosen as the site for the interviews. Sarah Venter, the owner of EcoProducts […] Continue Reading
Pura-vida: made in the Limpopo, sold in Singapore
LOHASIA is a social enterprise working to educate, empower and inspire everyone to enjoy lifestyles of health and sustainability. Recently, they published an article on Kristi Mackintosh owner of Pura Vida, an online natural product store selling amongst other beauty products, EcoProducts Baobab Oil. Here's an extract from the article: "Recognising the potential for positive impact that our purchasing decisions can […] Continue Reading
EcoProducts is Awarded Bioprospecting Permit
During an impressive ceremony hosted by the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs in Polokwane last week, EcoProducts was one of three companies who were awarded a bioprospecting permit. The permit was handed over to Dr Sarah Venter and two community representatives, Ms Sophiah Nemutshenzheni and Ms Livhuwani Tshivhiyahuvhi by the MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Limpopo Province, […] Continue Reading