Building Economic Complexity in the South African Fibrous Plant Economy

This paper focuses on the potential to develop fibrous downstream activities that stem from fibrous plant production on degraded mining land.2 To investigate the economic potential of these fibrous downstream activities, we apply an intensely cross-disciplinary approach, which allows us to address the following research objectives:3 firstly, we examine the economic complexity of the South African fibrous plant economy, with specific focus on bamboo, hemp and kenaf. Secondly, we identify potential diversification opportunities that would build economic complexity through the development of downstream options in the fibrous plant economy. Thirdly, we identify capabilities/constraints that enable/hinder the development of these downstream options. This in turn allows us to generate a set of micro-industrial policy recommendations.