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4.1 . Wildlife production

4.1.1. Production from wild sources
4.1.2 Wildlife ranching
4.1.3. Wildlife farming and domestication

4.1.1. Production from wild sources

National parks, game and forest reserves, unprotected forests and savannah lands, including secondary forests and farmlands, account for the greater proportion of bushmeat production on the African continent. Secondary forests and disused farms are particularly important as sources of rodents and duikers which account for most of the bushmeat eaten in rural Africa.

Data on wild animal populations and total biomass of stocks within African forests and savannah lands are scanty and available for only a few taxa in a limited numbers of sites. Biomass of large, medium and small herbivores in selected wildlife protected areas has been compiled by East (1984) who also related these to rainfall and soil nutrient status (Table 4.1). The figures ranged from a maximum standing stock of 19,663 kg/km² at Lake Manyara to a minimum of 54kg/km² in the Namib for large herbivores. In southern and eastern Africa, the herbivore biomass was dominated by arid savannah species. This group, which included species such as the savannah elephant, hippopotamus, buffalo, zebra and wildebeest, accounted for over 90% of the total biomass in the arid/eutrophic savannas. Arid savannah species' mainly elephant and buffalo, also dominated the moist/dystrophic savannas, where the group accounted for 80% of the total herbivore biomass. Within the west African sub-region, moist and arid savannah species accounted for about half the total biomass.

Biomass of wild animals have been estimated for only a few areas e.g., Prins & Reitsma (1989) report an estimated mammalian biomass of 1,050 kg km² in an unprotected lowland forest in south-western Gabon; while Oates et al (1990) estimate live biomass of non-human primates to be 2,300-3,600 kg km² in Kibale, Uganda; 1,230-1,530 kg km² in Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone and only 409 kg km² in the Doala-Edea in Cameroon. In comparison, Thomas (1991) estimate primate biomass in the Iture forest in Zaire to be 715 kg km² while that of the Tai National Park in Côte d'Ivoire is reported to be 1,010 kg km² (Bourlière, 1985). The biomass of primates reported for the various forests are considerably higher than that of species such as the forest elephant and large forest ungulates such as the buffalo. bongo and okapi, whose available biomass are estimated to be around 500 kg km² (Hladik et al., 1993).

Table 4.1 Biomass of large herbivores in selected conservation areas in Africa with different annual rainfalls and soil nutrient status. (Source: East, 1984)

Based on the estimated mammalian biomass of 1,050 kg km² in the forests of south-western Gabon, Feer (1993) estimated a total maximum sustainable yield (i.e., the proportion which can be safely taken off by subsistence hunting without jeopardising the resource base) of 70200 kg/km²/year, representing some 7-20 % of the total estimated biomass. In addition to the vertebrates insects also contribute substantially to wild animal protein production in some parts of Africa during specific seasons and attempts have been made to estimate the biomass of insects that can be harvested from the forest. Hladik et al., (1993) estimated the dry weight of insects available for harvest on Barro Colorado, Panama to be 38-70 kg/ha/year. Their calculations were based on total leaf consumption and the assumption that it takes 10 kg of feed to make 1 kg of meat. The proportion of the total insect production that would be suitable for human consumption, is however unknown since a large number of leaf-eating insects are not edible; species commonly collected and eaten in Africa include termites. caterpillars and larvae of several species of Coleoptera.

Estimates of forest cover and extent of protected area systems in Africa provide some idea of the extent of habitat available to wild animals on the continent. According to statistics provided by FAO, Africa has the second largest forest cover within the tropics, with an estimated total coverage of 528 million ha, accounting for 30% of the pan-tropical forest (FAO, 1993). McNeely et al., (1994) estimate that 240 million ha of land in sub-Saharan African is designated as protected areas (Table 4.2). This figure, which accounts for approximately 10% of the total land area on the continent, is based on wildlife protected areas but also includes forest reserves with nature protection functions.

In most African countries it illegal to hunt in protected areas and in some countries hunting of all large mammals is prohibited. It is however clear that the source of a significant proportion of the bushmeat production on the continent can be traced to protected and reserved lands either directly through illegal subsistence hunting, or indirectly where protected areas serve as reservoirs from which stocks in adjoining lands are replenished. All around Africa several innovative projects are showing that given adequate resources wildlife production can be a viable form of land use. These developments are helping to change the earlier thinking and approaches to wildlife conservation on the African continent which was largely based on strict preservationist strategies where all forms of consumptive use were considered undesirable and subsistence hunters were regarded as poachers and strictly dealt with when caught.

Most wildlife managers now admit that "conservation in a vacuum" has no future and recognise the need to replace that approach with a strategy that seeks to involve local people and integrate their needs into the management of wildlife resources. Protected area management approaches that pursue externally enforced exclusion of local people are crumbling under the pressures of illegal hunting and encroachment by crop farms. The current trend is towards evolving ways in which wildlife management schemes can provide concrete benefits in terms of food and income to local people who live with the wildlife and have to bear the cost of living with wildlife. In areas where wild animal populations densities are high and can sustain a measure of exploitation, questions are beginning to be asked about the feasibility of incorporating subsistence hunting by local hunters into the management equation.

Several examples can be found in Africa of projects that seek to integrate wildlife conservation with rural development; projects which aim to provide food security by generating food and income from wildlife for rural communities, but at the same time reduce pressure and encroachment on core protected areas. The Luangwa Integrated Rural Development Project in Zambia. and Zimbabwe's Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) are two projects which seek to provide benefits from wildlife to local communities.

The CAMPFIRE programme encourages wildlife production on marginal non-arable lands and empowers local people living under traditional land tenure systems on these lands to have responsibility for sustainable management and utilisation of the wildlife. The results of the CAMPFIRE show that wildlife protection/production is a viable form of land-use which can generate substantial income and food to local communities (see Box 8). The programme also demonstrates clearly that local support for wildlife conservation depends on whether or not the people identify themselves with conservation projects and whether or not such projects yield concrete benefits to the people. Benefits from the project include meat as well as cash income.

Table 4.2 Protected area system in Sub-Saharan Africa in relation to total land area and human population (Sources. McNeely et al., 1994; * includes marine parks)

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