About Flower Valley Conservation Trust
In 1999, with funds from the UK-based NGO Fauna & Flora International, Flower Valley farm on the Agulhas Plain at the southern tip of Africa was bought and the Flower Valley Conservation Trust established.
The Trust seeks to improve the way wild fynbos is harvested on land of its own and on that of a network of suppliers, believing that this is key to balancing the social, economic and conservation needs of the area. Part of the plan is to improve the economic viability of the wild flower business through marketing and increasing the demand for eco-ethical labelled product.
The Trust’s initial objectives were to:
- undertake research, training and monitoring to inform the sustainable harvesting of wild fynbos on the Agulhas Plain.
- develop an auditing and certification system for sustainably harvested wild fynbos products, with an associated marketing strategy.
- test out the business case for sustainably harvested fynbos products, possibly creating a blueprint that could be used elsewhere on the Agulhas Plain.
- enabling landowners and rural people to use available resources creatively and sustainably through the development of micro-enterprises and education programmes.
- instilling in the children of local communities a love of their environment through an environmental education programme.
Now, a recording protocol is in place, species identification and harvesting courses are being offered, and a species vulnerability schedule and a data-capture system have been established.
A code of practice for flower harvesting has been implemented and an auditing and certification system, with an associated marketing strategy, is being developed.
In a related development, Fynsa (Pty) Ltd, a private company, was set up in 2003 to source local certified products and market sustainably harvested wild flowers to overseas and domestic markets. It also supports efforts to sell directly to retailers to maximise price returns at the farm level.