SAEOPA
Southern African Essential Oil Producers Association
Research & Development
SAEOPA is involved with Research and Development of Essential Oil crops as well as Natural products from plants. Due to the fact that many Essential Oil crops are multipurpose plants they are used in many ways such as extraction of volatile oils by various methods, dried for spices, fresh for culinary use and also for floriculture.
South Africa has an abundance of plant species which need to be developed further. Our task is also to protect our natural plant species especially where they are wild harvested. The Western Cape has taken the lead by promoting the cultivation of Buchu (Agathosma sp.)
to take off the pressure done by wild harvesting.
Many less known indigenous species are harvested from the wild and SAEOPA is committed to assist in developing these plant species to become Agricultural crops.
Farmers are interested to assist in these efforts can contact us for further details.
Research on aroma properties of indigenous trees will eventually lead to establishment of new crops for Agriculture
Academic & Research Forums such as SAAB and IPUF provides excellent platforms to engage with the latest research done on plants and their properties.
Research on Distillation of Essential Oil Crops includes testing of stills, energy use, various forms of energy use, design of distillation equipment and practical aspects of the distillation and extraction processes
