PLANTS, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: PRICKLY PEAR IN SOUTH AFRICA - L. Wotshela1 & W. Beinart2

1Department of History, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa  2Department of African Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Prickly pear is no longer very important in South Africa.  It used to be more significant, as a source of food, alcohol, medicine, fodder, and hedging, and as a pest.   However, in some small towns and rural districts of the Eastern Cape, the wild Opuntia ficus-indica (itolofiya yasendle, turksvy) still provides a significant income for poor African women.  This paper is intended as a first chapter of a short, semi-popular book on the social history of the plant in South Africa.  The book will start in the present, and our plan is that the remaining chapters – some partly written - will track back in time.  In this introductory chapter we will sketch two activities (from interviews done in 2005) that revolve around prickly pear: picking and brewing by African women; and a largely Afrikaner festival in Uitenhage.  In relation to both, we will explore how local knowledge and old skills are drawn on for new marketing opportunities.  Both also suggest the way in which the plant and its fruits have become socially embedded within the diverse communities of the Eastern Cape.  Alcohol production is significant in both cases.  In relation to African brewers, we will also discuss the contribution of prickly pear to livelihoods and the nature of informal economic activities around the plant.  In relation to the Uitenhage prickly pear festival, we will look briefly at the cultural and symbolic value of the plant.  Both of the events that we describe involve a good deal of humor and communal work, linked with socializing.  Activities around the plant in this way facilitate social networks, as well as activating local knowledge.  We also offer a few comments on interventions that could be most beneficial for the users of the plant.  We are aware that the plant can become invasive and has ecological costs.  Other chapters will deal with the history of eradication (and see Beinart, Rise of Conservation in South Africa).  But scientific opinion now seems agreed that there is a degree of stability in the spread of O. ficus-indica, and we suggest that approaches to development and income generation should take into account these well-established local skills and practices. Opuntia species, particularly cultivated spineless varieties, could become more important again.