BACKGROUND
Human–elephant conflict (HEC) is a complex problem in many parts of Africa and Asia where elephants interact with people. Crop raiding is often the most prevalent form of HEC, whose aftermaths may include food insecurity, poverty (Gontse et al. 2018), loss of livelihood, injury and sometimes death (Mayberry 2015). Farmers adopt a range of strategies to reduce crop raiding by elephants. Interestingly, elephants are found to damage different crop types differently, even when they are grown in the same fields. Previous studies have also shown that elephants feed on different parts of plants; usually they target fruit over the vegetative component of the plant (Nyirenda et al. 2013).
We explored chilli, groundnuts, cowpea and safflower. Chilli fruits contain high concentrations of capsaicin, and have been used as effective repellents to elephant invasions into farms (Nyirenda et al. 2013; Karidozo and Osborn 2015). The use of these chilli by-products has been highly successful. However, very few studies report the incorporation of live chilli crops in the actual cropping system. These trials also assed the effectiveness of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) as a complementary deterrent to chilli. Its spiky inflorescence and leaves (Emongor 2010) are known to deter cattle and mediumsized wildlife and could could also be a deterrent to elephants. In addition to chilli and safflower, we tested the "elephant resilience" of the food crops groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) (Walp), which may be less preferable to elephants because of their hidden underground pods and poor pod visibility, respectively.
Emongor, V. (2010) ‘Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) The underutilized and neglected crop: A review’, Asian Journal of Plant Sciences, 9(6), pp. 299–306.
Gontse, K., Mbaiwa, J.E. and Thakadu, O.T. (2018) ‘Effects of wildlife crop raiding on the livelihoods of arable farmers in Khumaga, Boteti sub-district, Botswana’, Development Southern Africa, 35(6), pp. 791–802. doi: 10.1080/0376835X.2018.1495061.
Karidozo, M. and Osborn, F.V. (2015) ‘Community based conflict mitigation trials: Results of field tests of chilli as an elephant deterrent’, J Biodivers Endanger Species, 3(1). doi: 10.4172/2332-2543.1000144.
Mayberry, A. (2015) ‘Human dimensions of human-elephant conflict in Botswana : exploring visible and hidden well-being impacts’, (Doctoral dissertation), University of Guelph, Canada. p. 125.
Nyirenda, V., Myburgh, W. and Reilly, B. (2013) ‘Predicting environmental factors influencing crop raiding by African elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) in the Luangwa Valley, eastern Zambia’, African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 6(10), pp. 391–400. doi: 10.5897/.
DESCRIPTION
The first attractant of elephants to our fields is the different crops grown within, such as maize, sorghum, millet etc. Therefore, this trials hold a strong position that evaluating alternative cropping strategies can bring about a significant knowledge, understanding and more importantly a relief from crop raiding and improved food security for the local farmers while reducing HEC.
PRINCIPLE
Using a selection of elephant resilient crops and cropping layouts relief farmers of crop raiding by elephants. Our initiative had selected safflower, chili, groundnut, cowpea as elephant resilient crops based on previous studies and findings.
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS
Since many of the small holders cannot afford irrigation systems, many farmers are rain fed dependent. Therefore, farmers should plant early enough to potentially benefit from the rains.
Increasing the area of resilient or alternatives crops reduces the interest of the elephants visiting your farm.
Alternative crops may need to be nursery established first for them to survive and successfully grow.
This is an interesting way to prevent crop raiding!
I have a clarification question, does this initiative entail that farmers completely change their crops from traditional crops such as maize and millet to the alternative crops that are used as deterrents?
Or is it still possible to grow some traditional crops in the middle of an area while at the borders these alternative crops are grown? If this is indeed the case, is it known how wide this border with alternative crops ought to be – approximately? If this is not the case, would this be an option to explore (or perhaps it has been explored of course)?
HI Susan… Farmers don’t have to entirely change. They can explore different other arrangements which will allow them to still have a reasonable amount of their traditional crop by the end of the harvest. In our case…. we knew many farmers would still want to have maize/sorghum…. so you grow those and buffer them with a deterrent like chilli. Of which chilli buffered crops yielded significantly higher than non-buffered. In our experiments we did a 2m buffer belt around the crop. Sizes of farms/land available is also a challenge in our area because the Okavango Delta itself is tightly protected locally and international. Many farmers are only given 1-2ha. However, I want to believe that if you have a larger area, the greater the size of the buffer you put up… the more protected your crop will be.
We even had thoughts of planting in belts…. like chilli on the outer periphery, followed by an inner belt of cowpeas, then an inner belt of groundnuts until the most important crop is the last in the center. You know time & resources limits us.
Thanks for sharing your experience,
I’m also interested in the questions above.
In my opinion, the main difficulty about this solution is to switch livelihood fields to commercial crops and this implicates access to a market and knowledge of financial management. Have you been concerned by this problem? Or the crops selected where mostly consume and sell at direct proximity of the park?
In Congo, the fields serve as a food reserve, indeed cassava is largely planted and communities are consuming it all over the year, taking what they need for their meal of the week. Removing this food storage would also create a food availability problem, did you face this type of issue?
Thank you.
Very true Ede!!! especially in our cases of smallholers/subsistence farmers. In our case it was a good mixture… For example many of farmers have appreciated the efficacy of processed chili (crushed, greased, briquettes, chili bombs etc) in protecting their farms. So instead of them buying and processing chilli from retailers, they now had their own guaranteed supply locally. Otherwise, it is easy to trade off/sell groundnuts & cowpea as they commonly eaten in nearer localities. What we also appreciated was that it was a much better alternative of availing food. Firstly, if you have all millet or maize, there were higher chances that you might not even harvest a thing. Then you face no food and no money to even source food for the whole season. Rather, if you had groundnut, cowpeas and chilli, you could harvest and exchange these alternatives for cereals from nearer farmers who are not impacted much by elephants.