'Alternative foods' and community-based development : Rooibos tea production in South Africa's West Coast mountains
- Authors: Nel, Etienne L , Binns, Tony , Bek, David
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6718 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006791
- Description: Rooibos tee (red bush tea) (Aspalathus linearis, Fabaceae), which is indigenous only to the Cedarberg and neighbouring mountains of South Africa, has become popular internationally as a result of its apparent health-giving properties. Situated within the broader contexts of alternative food networks, alternate economic spaces and local/community-based development, this paper examines how two marginalised communities have successfully penetrated international markets by supplying organically produced rooibos tea which is certified by the international Fairtrade system. Focusing on the cases of Wupperthal and Heiveld, the paper explores the dynamics of the production and marketing process and the key variables involved. Success has been achieved through active NGO support, which has engaged with local skills and social capital, and has led to significant social and economic upliftment among the participating communities. The experience illustrates how, given the right conditions, poor communities in the South might participate successfully in global alternative food networks.
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- Date Issued: 2007
Regional development in South Africa’s West Coast: 'dividends on the process side'?
- Authors: Bek, David , Binns, Tony , Nel, Etienne L
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6674 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006648
- Description: Academics, policy-makers and consultants have been increasingly focusing upon the 'region' as the crucible of economic development. This regionalist approach places institutions at the centre of the process of stimulating growth. Much debate has been ongoing in academic circles, particularly those inhabited by economic geographers, about the veracity of the regionalist approach and the explanatory power of the terminology associated with it. This paper analyses explicit efforts to engender regional economic development in the West Coast of South Africa. Our empirical evaluation indicates that policy actors have sought to upgrade the institutional infrastructure of the region and that some significant achievements are evident within this realm. However, these achievements are yet to be associated with sustained regional economic takeoff. The paper concludes by asking searching questions about the ability of the regionalist approach to deliver meaningful socio-economic transformation.
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- Date Issued: 2005