Page 44 - State of Biodiversity 2023-2024

Silverglen Muthi Plant Nursery Article by: Brian Abrahams
Email: Brian.Abrahams@durban.gov.za
About 80% of Africa’s population relies almost entirely on traditional medicine for their basic health needs. Studies shown that in South African, about 60% of South Africans rely on traditional medicine for various reasons. Such reasons include, affordability, accessibility, acceptability and in most cases serves as a critical source of income for many people in the rural areas. As a result, the demand for medicinal plants has led to overharvesting and exploitation of indigenous plants in the wild and often poaching in managed areas.
To address the issue of over harvesting of indigenous plants within the eThekwini Municipality, the Silverglen Muthi Plant Nursery based within the Silverglen Nature Reserve was then established in 1986. The main objectives were to propagate threatened, extinct or near extinct indigenous plants and provide propagation training. Propagation training courses are offered to the muthi gatherers, herbalists, sangomas, interested parties and schools to encourage the cultivation of the plants in demand, thereby reducing the need to gather from the wild.
On average, the nursery produces about 70 000 to 80 000 indigenous plants per annum. In this financial year alone, the nursery produced 66 086 plants which was
less compared to other years due to challenges faced by the nursery. It has donated 2 194 trees to environmental education programmes mainly, communities as part of the City’s Greening Strategy project and nature reserves/ conservation sites for rehabilitation. In this financial year, propagation training was offered to four different organisations from around Durban whereby about 57 people were trained. Training was also offered to school learners during environmental education programmes such as the Stewardship Programme at Inanda and KwaMashu. Again, to ease the pressure on overharvesting of indigenous muthi plants, the nursery together with Environmental Officers have introduced sustainable plant harvesting training where people are trained on how to safely harvest certain parts (e.g. bark, leaves, roots, etc) of the plant without damaging or killing it. In that way, pressure on indigenous muthi plants can be reduced.
The nursery is open to the public Monday to Friday from 07h30 and 15h30. Closed on weekends and Public Holidays. For further information please contact 031 404 5628.
42 STATE OF BIODIVERSITY REPORT 2024/2025