Rooibos Payout Recognizes Indigenous South Africans' Know-How as Intellectual Property

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Herbal tea made from rooibos is an ancient tradition of hunter-gatherer cultures in South Africa.

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Rooibos has been consumed since antiquity by hunter-gatherer cultures in South Africa.

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The rooibos industry employs approximately 5,000 people to produce and process about 14,000 metric tons yearly.

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South Africa’s rooibos botanical tea industry in July made its first annual payment to indigenous communities under a historic 2019 agreement to compensate them for their discovery and cultivation of rooibos and their traditional knowledge of how to process the herb.

The industry will share 1.5% of farmgate revenue each year with the Khoi and San bushman communities native to the lands where rooibos tea is grown. The first payment totaled SAR12.2 million (about US$715,000). A payout for honeybush will soon follow. 

Under the Honeybush Rooibos and Honeybush Traditional Knowledge Benefit Sharing agreement, the industry apportions compensation based on the volume and price of the entire harvest, which is different from the approach taken under the Fairtrade International certification system.

The rooibos industry employs approximately 5,000 people to produce and process about 14,000 metric tons yearly, about half of which is exported. An estimated 500 rooibos tea farmers, mainly in the Cederberg region, sell their crops to 10 major producers.

A spokesperson for the South African San Council told local media the historic agreement is a lesson on the importance of preserving and acknowledging traditional knowledge as intellectual property.

Barbara Creecy, minister of South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE), said that “innovative solutions are required to address the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from the utilization of genetic resources and the traditional knowledge associated with its use.”

Leana Snyders, San Council director, said the council initiated the discussion in 2010, asking the South African Department of Environmental Affairs to negotiate a share of the collective farmgate price. The rooibos industry resisted, but tribal peoples successfully proved their claim to having pioneered development of the beverage.

Rooibos has been consumed since antiquity by hunter-gatherer cultures in South Africa. Around 2006, production increased, and revenue doubled from SAR100 million. Germany is the leading importer of rooibos, followed by the Netherlands and the UK, which together began supplying large quantities to the EU. Japan and the US became important markets. Rooibos drinks are served at Starbucks among other cafe chains.

Under the historic agreement, revenue will be distributed evenly among the South African San Council and the National Khoisan Council.

DFFE Minister Creecy said the funds would be used to protect cultural heritage, educate, and improve the livelihoods of these indigenous communities. The communities must submit a formal business plan to access the funds, which are held in separate trusts. The agreements comply with the Nagoya Protocol, a 2010 international agreement that mandates preserving biodiversity and sharing benefits in a fair and equitable way when genetic resources are utilized.

More such agreements could emerge around the world in the years ahead. Tribes in Ethiopia have not yet done so, but could make an intellectual property claim for compensation from roasting coffee. Likewise, in South America, the yerbe mate tea industry is a legacy of the traditional know-how of indigenous Guaraní and some Tupí communities, whose territory once covered what is present-day Paraguay. They first drank and cultivated the herb centuries before Europeans colonized the Americas.