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Saving Hoodia |
| my blog on this sensitive topic |
| Saving Hoodia sp. the famous plant used in safe weight loss from being
exploited in their natural habitat. This is a concern for many people. Plants
that grow in very dry or desert areas are scarce, they have a tough time to
survive. Harvesting Hoodia from nature is obviously going to do a lot of
harm. The truth is that it is not practical to harvest Hoodia direct from the habitat. There is not enough plants and the infrastructure like roads and accommodations are not very convenient either. or so it seemed ........... The people who live in that harsh habitat make very little money - if any. They were
tempted by the money and gathered any plants they could find. |
| The effects that cultivating Hoodia might have on Hoodia in nature Hoodia must be grown commercially for commercial purposes, there is no way that enough plants can be harvested out of the wild habitat. A few plants may have been removed, but the cultivation of Hoodia by tissue culture and seeds has to make the harvesting of wild plants unpractical.. The objection to the cultivation stated that the cultivated plants might influence the wild plants cross pollinating with them to produce weaker plants. This is far fetched. What is the chance that commercial plants come in contact with the wild plants growing with vast distances between them. Even if a Namibian farmer looses his mind and brings his wife a Hoodia plant in a pot for a present. (poor guy) That plant's pollen will find it difficult to find wild plants to pollinate as that needs flies , not birds and they do not fly very far. Even if it does pollinate one wild plant that happened to grow near the farm house garden nothing will come of it if the cultivated strain should weaken the plants. As said these wild plants are scarce and grow far apart. So interference from hybrids pollinating wild plants in the vast desert space that Hoodia grows in can not cause much of a problem. Hoodia has been cultivated as a succulent garden plant for many years and no mention of wild hybrids have been made to my knowledge. In my opinion, the plants of the genus Hoodia will not be threatened by cultivation but they might be saved. For more information on saving Hoodia click here |
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