Hoodia promises good business for locals

THE project manager of the Hoodia Growers’ Association of Namibia (HOGRAN), Ulrike Kaderli, said business has been very good for her organisation, which aims to achieve commercial benefit for communal farmers from this indigenous plant.

Kaderli told Nampa at the Windhoek Agricultural and Industrial Show last week that a Hoodia product is not just a bitter capsule or mixture for weight loss, but can also form part of the ingredients for many delicacies. She was promoting and selling yoghurt with Hoodia extracts at her stall.”We are making yoghurt, which is a new product, with the plant.We also sell tea, capsules, drops and different types of gel for weight loss,” she said.The yoghurts are sold in many flavours such as pineapple, peach, banana and grenadilla, which she said is a very good business strategy.The association forms part of the Hoodia Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Project, which is an initiative of the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) and the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) to contribute to rural poverty reduction in the country, specifically in the Hardap and Karas Regions.According to Kaderli, activities of the project include institutional development, enhancing farmer capacity for production, research and social education.The project is targeting communal areas in the Hardap and Karas regions, and has 300 households from villages and settlements, unemployed youths, shack dwellers as well as people living with HIV-AIDS from these regions.The objective of the project is to commercialise Hoodia production and develop it into an industry that will stimulate economic growth.The project aims to establish Hoodia-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), create employment opportunities and provide alternative forms of income for rural communities.The project is funded for a two-year period between 2007 and 2009 with over N$9 million by the European Union (EU) through Government’s Rural Poverty Reduction Programme, and implemented in partnership with the Namibia Development Trust, the Shack Dwellers Federation, Namibia Housing Action Group and the Hardap and Karas Regional Councils.- NampaShe was promoting and selling yoghurt with Hoodia extracts at her stall.”We are making yoghurt, which is a new product, with the plant.We also sell tea, capsules, drops and different types of gel for weight loss,” she said.The yoghurts are sold in many flavours such as pineapple, peach, banana and grenadilla, which she said is a very good business strategy.The association forms part of the Hoodia Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Project, which is an initiative of the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) and the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) to contribute to rural poverty reduction in the country, specifically in the Hardap and Karas Regions.According to Kaderli, activities of the project include institutional development, enhancing farmer capacity for production, research and social education.The project is targeting communal areas in the Hardap and Karas regions, and has 300 households from villages and settlements, unemployed youths, shack dwellers as well as people living with HIV-AIDS from these regions.The objective of the project is to commercialise Hoodia production and develop it into an industry that will stimulate economic growth.The project aims to establish Hoodia-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), create employment opportunities and provide alternative forms of income for rural communities.The project is funded for a two-year period between 2007 and 2009 with over N$9 million by the European Union (EU) through Government’s Rural Poverty Reduction Programme, and implemented in partnership with the Namibia Development Trust, the Shack Dwellers Federation, Namibia Housing Action Group and the Hardap and Karas Regional Councils.- Nampa