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Ltr - Noluthando Mbilase, Nombulelo Tola and Thandiswa Myeki enjoy the fruits of their labour.
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A donation of 900 Eucalyptus seedlings generated through the research of members of the SERA Plant Propagation and Cultivation Technology (PPCT) Focus Area team five years ago, has given rise to the establishment of a successful nursery that provides livelihoods for a group of women in the Eastern Cape.
Through the CSIR, the women were supplied with Eucalyptus clones and pine seed material as well as material for cloning indigenous species such as yellowwood and Acacia karoo. The organisation also executed a comprehensive technology transfer exercise and developed a training course, which included technical and business skills training. The two owners of the nursery were flown to Gauteng where they visited a number of successful commercial tree nurseries.
Noluthando Mbilase (43) and Nomonde Qongqo (42), fledgling businesswomen in Alice in the Eastern Cape are the owners of Siyatyala Nursery project - an isiXhosa name that means 'we are planting'. Breeding, growing and cloning trees were foreign terms to these women. "To be honest, all we knew about trees was to chop them down for wood to make fire and cook for our families," says Mbilase.
"We realised from the start that these two individuals had the potential to make a success of their business," says Dr Steve Verryn, PPCT team member and leader of the CSIR tree improvement research group. "They had no difficulty with the pioneering application of cloning technology to the two indigenous species. Yellowwood propagation by seed is quite challenging, as the seed lives only for a short period of time. Vegetative propagation of yellowwood is a good answer to the problem, although the approach is relatively unexploited in this indigenous species; the two women nevertheless did it successfully."
"Initially we couldn't find the pine bark (a medium used for propagation), not because it was rare," adds Mbilase, "but because we simply did not know where to look for it. Eventually we found it at sawmills and managed to plant our seedlings in small black plastic bags. That was the start of things and we have never looked back," she says about their journey, laden with both obstacles and victories.
The project originally took root at the University of Fort Hare nursery facilities in 2002 where Mbilase and Qongqo assumed their leadership roles and managed 11 people.
The two later moved to an independent site in town, but their new plot was tiny and the lack of germination rooms meant that their plants died during harsh winters. Even when their bakkie was stolen and they were forced to transport water from the nearby river, they soldiered on. "Many others would not have been as patient as we are. Our growth has been very modest but, because we experienced first hand how high in demand trees were - for urban renewal projects and in the forestry industry, we stuck to it, and our turnover reached R246 000 in 2005. In fact, we are currently experiencing that demand is outstripping supply - our nursery is too small".
Siyatyala received a lucrative contract recently to supply 500 000 seedlings to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, a further 100 000 to Pirie Saw Mills, another 100 000 to a Mthatha client, plus 20 000 seedlings to Cata Forest. "We enjoy doing this, but at the moment we need to expand to be able to fulfil orders. We are doing what we can to obtain funding," she says.
"We were trained by CSIR experts and now we can do cloning, budding and grafting," they smile. "It was something new that has grown on us, and it has become part of who we are."
Siyatyala Nursery specialises in pine trees, olive, Acacia karoo, yellowwood and ornamental trees. Before joining the Siyatyala project, Qongqo, like many other unemployed South Africans, was unable to support her family. Mbilase is a trained citrus farmer and continues to manage her farm in the Fort Beaufort area. Thandiswa Myeki, an employee of Siyatyala and mother of three from the nearby Ncerha village, says: "This project has helped me so much; I use my earnings to educate my children and I wish the project could develop and grow bigger." Another employee, Nombulelo Tola of Gqumashe village, echoes these sentiments, saying that they have worked hard to establish the nursery.
When asked about the importance of trees, they say that trees furnish human beings with two of life's essentials: food and oxygen. "As we evolved, trees provided additional necessities such as shelter, medicine and tools," say the women, adding that the value of trees continues to increase; more benefits are being discovered as their role expands to satisfy the needs created by the way people live their lives.
Source: CSIR Science Scope
For more information, contact Dr Steve Verryn at sverryn@csir.co.za
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