Ntabankulu municipality puts hopes in ‘miracle tree’

ONE of the Eastern Cape’s poorest rural municipalities could soon find itself home to one of the most important trees in the world.

Ntabankulu municipality in the Alfred Nzo district municipality is hoping to start cultivating the Moringa Oleifera tree, which is also referred to as the “miracle tree” in the science community because of its many medicinal benefits.

A search on www.miracletree.org reveals that the Moringa Oleifera tree can be used to treat diarrhoea, headaches, skin ailments, gastric ulcers, fever, bronchitis, eye and ear infections, liver and spleen problems, joint pains and diabetes.

It is used in some parts of the world as a food supplement due to its high nutritional value, and as an effective water purifier.

Alfred Maroyi, an associate professor in plant ecology and botany at the University of Fort Hare, wrote a research paper on the tree more than 12 years ago.

He said Moringa Oleifera had been used as a food supplement in Zimbabwe for HIV/Aids patients.

“It is an Asian plant species that was introduced he said.

Apart from its medicinal and food value, Moringa is also used in perfumes, as fuel wood, as fodder for livestock, in the construction industry and to create furniture.”

Ntabankulu mayor Vusi Mgoduka said the municipality had concluded research studies on the plant, which included him physically visiting a Moringa project in Limpopo last month to see how it was grown.

“We found that here in Ntabankulu because of the [dry] climate we have . . . it can thrive.”

He said they were hoping to open in several countries,” a factory to process products from the tree for export to help boost the local economy.

“The tree takes about three years to grow fully but you can start harvesting the leaves from 49 days. We want to put [products that we will make in the factory] out in stores and sell others outside,” he said.

The municipality has secured about 50 hectares of land in Fort Donald near Mbizana, where it hopes to grow Moringa trees. Already, about 15 selected people are receiving training in Limpopo on how to grow the tree.

Mgoduka said in the near future they hoped to have each household in Ntabankulu grow the tree.

He said the municipality struggled to generate enough revenue with only about R2-million collected monthly, which meant it had to rely on government grant funding to deliver services to the people.

“We project that around 100 jobs will be created through this project,” said Mgoduka, adding it would be funded by a R9-million allocation to the muncipality’s local economic development department.

This would also be used to start other initiatives, including fish farming. —