Trophy hunting, crocodile farming help rural poor adapt

http://www.irinnews.org


CHIREDZI, 29 June 2011 (IRIN) - The mostly dry Chiredzi district in southeastern Zimbabwe will grow drier as rainfall becomes increasingly uncertain, but trophy hunting and rearing crocodiles for their meat and skins can become major money earners to help rural households overcome poverty while adapting to climate change.

In one of several initiatives under a project backed by the UN and government, elephants, warthogs, giraffes, buffaloes and impala - a type of antelope - are kept in an area measuring about 7,000 square kilometres and sold to trophy hunters licensed by the government in cooperation with the district authorities, while the community gets free meat from the slain animals.

"The project is now well established and the beneficiaries are building a school and a clinic from the money they receive from the sale of the animals," said Leonard Unganyi, who manages the project run jointly by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the government-controlled Environment Management Agency (EMA). "They have also bought a truck and set up a grain-grinding mill to benefit the community."

He said the project, which helps communities cope with drought and climate change, would be replicated in other parts of the country because 90 percent of Zimbabwean farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture and are struggling to become food secure.

Using revenue from community-based trophy hunting initiatives to generate income for sustainable development activities is not unusual. In the late 1990s, Pakistan pioneered development of the Community Based Trophy Hunting Programme (CBTHP), according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Pakistan runs several such projects, some in collaboration with UN and nature conservation agencies.

Finding sources of income to build the resilience of poor rural communities to erratic rainfall in Zimbabwe’s troubled economy is a tall order.

"Chiredzi district, which has always been vulnerable to drought, is one of the many areas countrywide that have been affected by climate change. Households have been severely affected by rainfall distribution, resulting in poor harvests," said UNDP-EMA's Unganyi.

Even though we have a garden, we cannot sell the vegetables because there is no one to buy
Susan Chivambu agreed. "There were hardly any rains to talk about in the last agricultural season and my family only managed to produce a few bags of maize. Very soon that will be gone and we will have to scrounge for food, just like we have done in the last three years."

Her family has been forced to sell some of their livestock every year. "Even though we have a garden, we cannot sell the vegetables because there is no one to buy," she said. Two goats she would be taking to the market for the fortnightly sale were tethered to a nearby tree.

"Adaptation to climate change is a fairly new phenomenon in Zimbabwe," said Unganyi. "There is a need for policies and strategies that empower affected local communities."

Tapping into another lucrative market, 300 households in Chilonga village in Chiredzi district have set up a cooperative crocodile farming project, now in its second year and close to becoming profitable. Each member contributes to the food and upkeep of the crocodiles.



The villagers have benefited from infrastructure left behind by a white commercial farmer, including ponds, incubators and boilers. William Tonono, a member of the crocodile project, told IRIN that they were rearing 880 crocodiles, some of which were ready for market.

"Even though we still have problems raising money to buy food and medicines for the crocodiles, we hope that when we sell our first batch, money problems will be a thing of the past," said Tonono. Zimbabwe’s export earnings from crocodile meat and skins are worth millions of dollars. A skin 40cm wide is valued at US$9 per centimetre, according to Padenga, a Zimbabwean company that trades in skins. UNDP-EMA will help the cooperative to market their produce.

"Our aim is to make sure that the money we realise from this project will be enough to provide our family needs, but judging by our progress, we will be able to buy cars in the near future," Tonono said.

Another initiative gives rural residents an alternative to dependence on their dwindling livestock. Families where Chivambu lives have been organized into clubs that breed fish in the nearby Masukwe Dam. They hope to harvest the first batch of fish by the end of 2011.

Cassava and hardier grains

Other families have been given the option of farming hardier crops like cassava, and small grains like sorghum and millet which thrive in dry conditions, but the results have been mixed.

Evelyn Hanyani’s cassava crop thrived and she hopes to sell some of the produce to support her family of 15, but her sorghum crop performed poorly, partly because of long dry spell in February 2011.



"We cook the cassava every morning and use it as a substitute for bread,” she said. We also grind it to prepare flour for bread, and sometimes use the ground powder in the place of maize-meal and pick the leaves to use as vegetables."

Her neighbour, Tsotsowani Makondo, 40, a mother of nine, opted to grow small grains. "Despite the drought in the area this year, I am happy with my yields. My family will not die of hunger because I harvested enough sorghum and millet to last me ‘til next year," Makondo told IRIN.

Her children are not used to eating millet and sorghum instead of Zimbabwe’s staple food, maize-meal, so she sells some of her produce to buy maize.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-NET) notes in its report on Zimbabwe in June 2011 that staple cereals are readily available nationally, but prices are higher than the same time in 2010. Predominantly rural districts like Chiredzi have not shown improved sources of income for poor households compared to a year ago.

The districts of Chiredzi, Buhera, Mangwe, Bikita, and Mutare reported the highest maize grain prices in Zimbabwe. FEWS-NET said the trend was likely to continue to 2012 because of the poor harvests in these areas. "This means access challenges for the poor households in the areas of concern will have worsened, and more households will be food insecure."


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

"family of 15", "mother of 9"?? hell, trade the grain for condoms- it will be cheaper in the long run.

quote:

The villagers have benefited from infrastructure left behind by a white commercial farmer

"Left Behind" voluntarily or involuntarily?

i remember that farm - it wasn't a voluntary change. at the time it was a pretty prosperous business. the crocs got to about 2 years old then they killed them. you could buy purses, belts, etc. that they made from them at places like the elephant walk in the marketplace in vic falls.

Croc in a day's work!
Thursday, 30 June 2011 01:00

By Tichaona Zindoga

Huge, rugged monsters lie on the edges of ponds with murky waters, absorbing the June sunshine. They are probably napping.
Their long visages show perpetual toothy grimaces punctuated by occasional yawns.
These grins are much a result of their anatomy and contentment as malevolence, painting quite a grotesque picture.

These crocodiles at the Mazvikadei Crocodile Farm in Banket, Mashonaland West, form the magnificent aquaculture that has been practiced here for the last two decades.
Entering the farm, one is informed by various signs of the one attribute that crocodiles are extremely dangerous being at mature ages from 15 years up to 120 can grow an average of five metres and weighing around 900 kilogrammes.

And this particular group of crocodiles, about 400 of them, has every reason to be content being there to eat, sleep and procreate.
"These are breeders and they are here for nothing else except to eat and mate and give offspring," Mr John Banda, a breeder at the farm told The Herald when the paper visited the farm recently.

Banda has been imbued in aquaculture for the last six years when he came here in response to the demanding economic times.
Things have progressively changed and the amazing interaction of man and beast.

He revealed the secrets of his trade.
"Breeders are aged 15 years and above. They are not for any other purpose.

"The skin is scratched and useless and we do not sell their eggs," he said.
On the other hand, the life of a breeding crocodile is predicated on passing seasons.

As they lay down languidly absorbing the June sunshine the crocodiles are reading for the mating season that begins in August.
Said Banda: "They mate from the beginning of August to the end of September.

"As the mating season begins we prepare the land around the ponds where the female crocodiles will lay eggs in sand nests.
"We collect the eggs from the nests and put them into the incubator where the eggs will hatch within 90 days."
He revealed that the number of eggs each female lays depends on its age with the average nest having between 45 and 60 eggs.

As such the mating season, coming as it does in the hot days following winter, is necessarily a hedonistic time of the year.
The crocodiles are mainly fed from dead chicken from a company in Harare, condemned meat as well as other food from surrounding farms.
"We need about six tonnes of food during summer months and we feed the crocodiles twice a week while in winter we need to feed them once after two to three weeks," said Banda.

He revealed that the crocodiles would during winter take as scant food as possible to fuel the body.
The voracity of the coming months could go down to the exertions of mating.
"There is a lot of fighting during the mating season and often some male crocodiles get injured.

"If a crocodile gets injured and the cut is too deep it might die," said Banda.
Out of such industry and danger springs new life.
Mr Waison Phiri, manager here, is responsible for rearing the crocodiles into life, and profitability.

He says the quality of crocodiles depends on how they are reared.
It starts with the handling of eggs.
"During the laying process we look in the nests for the eggs. We put them in kaylite boxes in which there is vermiculite stuff.

"We look at bands that develop on the eggs after 48 hours indicating they are fertile.
"We pick the eggs and place them in boxes according to how they have been laid, they can lie horizontally or vertically, as seen by the bands and we have to place them in the boxes accordingly," said Phiri.
He added that care was paramount in handling eggs.

Shaking the eggs would result in death of foetuses or deformities. The incubator is a big room equipped with a geyser, fans and thermometers.
For the eggs to hatch conditions must just be right to meet the 90-day period.
This chiefly includes the regulation of temperature to maintain an optimum 30-32 degrees Celsius.

"Above that you get more males and premature births," explained Phiri.
Hatchlings, measuring 15 centimetres at birth, are then kept in special nursery pens where they are fed mainly on red meat and mince.

Fresh food is ideal for the well-being of the crocodiles, said Phiri.
Crocodiles are vaccinated against such diseases as pox which damages the skin.

Temperatures are maintained at an optimum 37 degrees Celsius.
From the outside pens where water is deeper and growth is faster, the crocodiles are moved into the inner blocks.

The rearing section comprises of seven blocks of six pens each and nine outside pens.
This is where Phiri and company are rearing between 20 000 and 25 000 crocodiles.

At the age of between three and four years the crocodiles will be ready for culling.
Phiri said: "The crocodiles will be between 90 centimetres and one metre long and their stomach size 23 centimetres.

"The quality of skin must be good with no brown spots or marks. We put the skins in coarse salt for seven days and thereafter in a coldroom."
Culling is done once a month over a period of eight to nine days during which between 450 and 500 crocodiles are slaughtered.

They will be ready for export, and currently there is only one buyer who is based outside the country.
But far from being a mere occupation for the father of three Phiri and 41 others, including villagers from surrounding areas, it is more of a culture of living with crocodiles.

Prisca Mabemba came here in 2008.
She told The Herald that she came here to earn a living for her family.

At first she was afraid of the crocodiles.
But now she has discovered the inner soul of what Mr Quinton De Jager built in 1986 and lived to see and leave flourish when he died in 2005.

"I am no longer afraid," she said.
And her demeanour as she feeds the crocodiles from a wheelbarrow tells of a person completely in harmony with crocodiles.

It's all in a day's work!
Members of the public can also visit the farm to see the crocodiles and do fishing for a fee.

They also have a chance to sample the delicacy of crocodile tail, which is sold here.

I posted the following comment:

Regarding your June 29 story praising native crocodile farming near Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, you stated "The villagers have benefited from infrastructure left behind by a white commercial farmer". Perhaps you should investigate the circumstances under which this functioning, profitable, valuable intrastructure was "left behind". Africa is a zero-sum game; for every winner there is a loser.

on the paper's website:

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93099

couple of interesting things about crocs i learned, a 10' croc will eat about as much as a mature heron during the year, and red meat is actually not healthy for crocs. to much red meat and they will develop beri beri