Abstract
On 26 June 1906, the fourth Parliamentary Select Committee on Agricultural Cooperation met in Cape Town to debate the apparently intractable scourge to agriculture, and the wider community, of dense infestations of sweet prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in the Eastern Cape and Karoo. Originating from Central America, this plant had been in South Africa since at least the 1750s, and by the 1890s had invaded an estimated 314 000 ha, which increased to about 1 million ha by the 1950s. Dr G.H. Maasdorp, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape and a medical practitioner in Graaff-Reinet, which was literally in the thick of the prickly pear problem at the time, presented his perceptive views to the Committee.
Highlights
On 26 June 1906, the fourth Parliamentary Select Committee on Agricultural Cooperation met in Cape Town to debate the apparently intractable scourge to agriculture, and the wider community, of dense infestations of sweet prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in the Eastern Cape and Karoo.[1,2]
I think we should find out what are the conditions in those countries in which [the prickly pear] is indigenous whether it is in the nature of a pest there or not...it may possibly be that in those countries this plant has some natural enemy for keeping [it] within bounds. ...and whether it would not be possible to transport that natural enemy to this country
Dr Maasdorp had succinctly explained the fundamental principles of weed biological control (WBC)
Summary
On 26 June 1906, the fourth Parliamentary Select Committee on Agricultural Cooperation met in Cape Town to debate the apparently intractable scourge to agriculture, and the wider community, of dense infestations of sweet prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in the Eastern Cape and Karoo.[1,2] Originating from Central America, this plant had been in South Africa since at least the 1750s, and by the 1890s had invaded an estimated 314 000 ha, which increased to about 1 million ha by the 1950s.1 Dr G.H. Devastating invasive plants such as pompom weed, Campuloclinium macro cephalum, and the noxious parthenium weed Parthenium hysterophorus, known as ‘famine weed’ in South Africa, are rapidly increasing in importance, and there are many other incipient or emerging weed species in this country,[21] some of which have already proved to be very damaging elsewhere in the world These matters have long had the attention of various government departments and, crucially, since 1995, the Working for Water Programme (previously in the Department of Water Affairs, in the Department of Environmental Affairs) has expended more than R3 billion on mechanical and chemical control operations. There is wide recognition that more needs to be invested in research and implementation of WBC if the situation is to be at least stabilised, or improved.[22,23]
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