We’ve been noticing an unnerving increase in the demand for the bitter sap/crystals/powder of the Aloe ferox plant over the last decade; to such an extent that we are really concerned about the longevity and sustainability of the Aloe ferox plant in its natural habitat. Species extinction can sometimes be a natural process; however, continued overexploitation will lead to forced resource destruction, including extinction. We believe that the greater aloe industry is currently overexploiting naturally occurring Aloe ferox plants for its bitter exude resource.
We began to cultivate Aloe ferox plants about 15 years ago due to our concerns regarding the longevity and sustainability of the Aloe ferox plants. We have since cultivated and reintroduced more than 200 000 Aloe ferox plants to over 100 hectares of privately-owned farmland.
Most people believe in err that the bitter exude is the only valuable resource. As a matter of fact, the bitter exude is our least used resource – we use the complete leaf. We chose to distance ourselves from the overexploitation of this single resource during 2017 by terminating all high-volume bitter operations. We do not allow tapping of our own aloes. Furthermore, the little bitters that we still use, is sourced from conservation-minded tappers/providers.
Source: Aloe Ferox Newsletter January/February 2019, Edition 1/2019
