Seeds of Namibia's Hoodia Gordonii plant have been exported clandestinely to foreign countries, a Swapo MP claimed in the National Council last week.

However, Willem Appollus said the seeds did not grow in those foreign countries.

"Hopefully, this is an ingrained protective measure by the Hoodia plant itself," he said.

Speaking during debate on the third reading of the Plant Quarantine Bill in the National Council, Appollus said Namibia should protect its flora and fauna.

Hoodia is a succulent plant found in parts of southern Namibia, South Africa and Botswana.

The Hoodia Gordonii species is now in high demand in the US and Europe because of its appetite-suppressing qualities.

The plant is listed on Appendix II of the United Nations Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) - a list of species that are not currently endangered but are at risk if trade in them is not controlled.

Swapo's Bartholomeus Shangheta said many of the legal frameworks for exporting and importing plant products are outdated and no longer match the economic realities and challenges that Namibia is facing today.

Therefore, he said, it is high time that these instruments are replaced with ones that will help Namibia address new challenges.

Namibia has ratified a number of international agreements such as the International Treaty on Plant and Genetic Resources and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and should abide by them, he pointed out.

In her contribution, Swapo's Margareth Mensah-Williams said she is pleased that the San people in the Nyae-Nyae and Nâ‰a-Jaqna conservancies are now harvesting the Devil's Claw plant for a living.

She wants the harvesters to be trained on sustainable harvesting, however.

Mensah-Williams said the San harvesters should also be helped to patent their products.

"They should register them and have rights over them," she said.

Devil's Claw (Harpagophytum) is a plant that grows mainly in the Kalahari sands of Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Angola and to a lesser extent in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Its tubers contain a compound called harpagoside, which has pain-killing and anti-inflammatory properties and is used in the treatment of rheumatism and arthritis.