Traditional medicine is an important part of healthcare in southern Africa. Most drugs are prepared from plants, all of which are collected from the wild. This has led to a large number of medicinal plants coming under severe threat and sustainable harvest is no longer a viable option. Therefore, a new strategy for developing these medicinal plants as commercial crops is needed. This could be both as an alternative crop for larger, commercial farms and for the small-scale farmer. Cultivation data need to be linked with pharmacological assessments of the crop during the development of protocols.
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