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September 2004 Newsletter

THE INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND THE LIVELIHOODS OF RURAL PEOPLE IN ZIMBABWE

This issue of the IES News focuses on the projects the Institute has been carrying out in an attempt to enhance the livelihoods of rural people in Zimbabwe. Natural resource management is one of the Institute’s main research priorities. A major theme of this research has been how the environment relates to rural livelihoods as more than 60% of Zimbabwe’s population lives in the rural areas where they depend on the environment for their livelihood and sustainance.

The Institute has worked with rural communities on how they can use natural resources sustainably to improve their livelihoods and to alleviate poverty. Some of the Institute’s recent projects on rural livelihoods and natural resources management have been:

• Mopane Woodlands and Mopane Worm: Enhancing Rural Livelihoods and Resource Sustainability;
• Participatory Development of Community Based Management Plans for Livestock Feed Resources in the Semi-Arid Areas of Zimbabwe; and
• Access to Natural Resources for Sustainable Livelihoods: Case Studies in Southern Zimbabwe.
  

Mopane Woodlands and the Mopane Worm: Enhancing Rural Livelihoods and Resource Sustainability

The Mopane worms project is being implemented by IES in collaboration with the Imperial College, London, UK; Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe; the Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE); the University of the North, Sovenga, South Africa; Veld Products Research and Development (VPRD) Gaborone; and Kgetsi ya Tsie Woman’s Community Trust (KyT) in Lerala, Botswana. The project is aimed at determining the manner and extent of use of mopane worms and what contribution they make to people's livelihoods, especially the rural poor. It also aims to understand the production-consumption system, with particular reference to determining what possibilities there are to enhance the level of benefit that producers receive from harvesting and processing the larvae (e.g. through improved marketing or better processing methods, leading to a higher-value product). A third objective is to identify the key factors limiting mopane worm production, and to determine how mopane worms and mopane woodlands can be managed to increase production.

At the Institute of Environmental Studies, the project is coordinated by Prof. Peter Frost. The Institute’s contribution to the project is conducting livelihood studies and the market network analysis. Some of the results of the project are given below.

Livelihood studies

The contribution of mopane worm harvesting to people’s livelihoods is being studied in two rural communities in Matobo District, south-western Zimbabwe by Mr Tendayi Gondo. The study aims to understand how the collection, processing and sale of mopane worms is organised, what local rules govern access to and use of the worms, and what contribution mopane worm harvesting is making to people's livelihoods. The survey covers 60 randomly selected households in the villages of Kapeni (35 households) and Ndiweni (25 households) of Matobo District.

The results of the survey show that income from the sale of products derived directly from natural resources accounts for almost 32% of all cash income received by the studied households in Kapeni village. Income from the sale of mopane worms alone contributes about 26% to the total. In contrast, in Ndiweni village, income from environmental goods amounts to just under 16% of total cash income, with income from the sale of mopane worms contributing about 11% to total cash income. The lower contribution of environmental goods to total cash income in Ndiweni village may reflect the more degraded nature of the natural resource base around the village compared to Kapeni village.

Households in both villages also retain some of the mopane worms for consumption in addition to deriving cash income from them. Conclusions from the studies however indicate that the contribution of the worms towards the human protein and metabolic needs is low and households would seem to be better off selling the mopane worms and then spending the cash earned flexibly.

Market network analysis

Whereas harvesting of mopane worms was traditionally a subsistence livelihood activity, undertaken largely for nutritional purposes, increasing commercialisation of the resource has been taking place in recent years. Mopane worms are being widely traded throughout southern Africa, with evidence of marketing chains extending from southern Zimbabwe and eastern Botswana to South Africa, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as nationally within the main producing countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe). Despite this, there has been little research on the nature and dynamics of the marketing chains, markets or the traders involved. Mr Witness Kozanayi has carried out surveys at various points of sale of mopane worms in southern Zimbabwe, including supermarkets, other retail outlets, market stalls, beer halls, bus termini, and informal traders during the past three years. The surveys encompassed the urban areas of Beitbridge, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Rushinga and Zvishavane, as well as various roadside sales points between Masvingo and Beitbridge. Additional information was gathered from markets and shops in and around Harare.

Mopane worms market in Beitbridge (Photo: P. Frost)
Results of the study indicate that there are price differentials between rural and urban markets, with collectors selling from their rural homes receiving the least returns per kilogramme of mopane worms while collectors or traders selling in bulk in urban centres receive more returns per kilogramme. For mopane worm harvesters to capture a greater share of the final value of the worms, they must either add value earlier in the marketing chain, by improving processing and packaging of the worms, or by moving the mopane worms closer to the points of final sale. They also need to know the prices in other markets, the costs of accessing distant markets directly (and how), and the various costs and benefits of different options. Information sheets on current prices in various markets across southern Zimbabwe have been distributed to the study communities and elsewhere, and the impact of this information is being monitored and assessed.

Another intervention includes facilitating discussions within the communities on how access to mopane-worm harvesting areas can be controlled and limited to community members. Whereas appropriate by-laws are in place, enforcement is a problem. More importantly, there is the question of how interventions aimed at one group (e.g. collectors) can best be made without adversely impacting the livelihood opportunities of others.

The research on mopane-worm marketing chains shows that it is not only the rural poor who engage in harvesting and trading mopane worms. Many relatively poor traders buy and sell mopane worms in both rural and urban areas, often with narrow profit margins. The risk is that interventions such as those of controlling and limiting harvesting and access to mopane worm harvesting to community members may reduce the opportunities of these poor traders.

While this is not an argument for limiting interventions at the producers' end of the marketing chain, it emphasises the need to undertake a system-wide assessment of the impacts of such interventions, and for implementing those that have the potential to produce the widest impact on poverty.

The project is now in its final year and the different collaborators working on the project are integrating their work to come up with a final report. Between January and April 2004, the project held report back meetings with some of the rural communities that they were working with. The project is producing a newsletter which is circulated to project members and interested stakeholders.

The project was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) UK. For more information on the Mopane Worms Project, please contact Prof. Peter Frost on email address pfrost@science.uz.ac.zw.

Participatory Development of Community Based Management Plans for Livestock Feed Resources in the Semi-Arid Areas of Zimbabwe Project

The Mahuwe Project was initiated in 1999 to develop an improved livestock feed resources management system for the people of Ward 7 (Mahuwe) in Guruve District. The project was being implemented by the Institute of Environmental Studies in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Development and the Maclaury Land Use Department of the United Kingdom. The Ward covers an area of about 400 km2 and has a population of about 6,800 people. Discussions were held with the community to find out their objectives for the Ward in terms of livestock. The Project and local communities objectives were consolidated. These were defined by the local people as being to:

• maintain people at the carrying capacity of the area and stop accepting any new settlers into Ward 7;
• produce a land use plan that demarcates and separate residential, grazing, livestock kraals, and arable lands in each village;
• develop a plan acceptable to people of Ward 7, that will ensure conservation of the grazing and that there will always be sufficient grazing for the animals;
• maintain animals at the carrying capacity of the area; and
• communicate this to residents.

The project not only achieved all objectives but was able to fully implement the land use plan and the livestock feed resource plans.

Livestock grazing in rural Zimbabwe (Photo: P. Frost)

Major Project Outputs

• Legitimate traditional leaders of Ward 7 were identified and acknowledged. Their roles and responsibilities with regards to land use and land allocations were clarified and made known throughout the community.
• Ward 7 land use plan was developed and implemented. Local teams were trained and used to develop the plan and to implement it.
• Livestock feed resource management and monitoring systems for the three different grazing clusters in Ward 7 were developed and adopted by the communities in each cluster.
• Local institutions were strengthened through local acceptance of institutional structures and the development and implementation of new by-laws and regulations governing land use, land allocations and livestock feed resource use.
• Local teams were trained in communication, data collection and monitoring.
• The influx of new settlers into Ward 7 was stopped.
• A greatly improved understanding of how to bring about change in rural communities was gained by the researchers.

Key Lessons Learnt

Some of the key lessons learnt from the study were:

• For science to contribute meaningfully to rural development it too has to be adaptive.
• In this world, at this time to be sustainable means we have to be adaptive. The best way to achieve lasting change is to enhance local adaptive capacity.
• For sustainable and successful change to occur the structures or processes that govern the system need to be understood and addressed.
• For change to be successful and sustainable there must be broad based acceptance of the vision and the processes to be implemented to achieve that vision.

The project was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK. For more information on the project, please contact the Project Coordinator, Dr. Timothy Lynam on email address: tlynam@ies.uz.ac.zw

Access to Natural Resources for Sustainable Livelihoods: Case Studies in Southern Zimbabwe

This project is being carried out by the Institute of Environmental Studies in collaboration with the University of Alberta in Canada and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The goal of the project is to investigate how access to common property resources (CPRs) defined according to varying types of land tenure and natural resources, influences the sustianble use and management of CPRs.

The project is divided into three case studies.

Case Study 1: Local level institutions in woodland and water management in a communal area.

The study explored the role of local level institutions, both formal and informal, in community-based woodland and water resource management with particular focus on two aspects of these institutions:
§ the role of informal institutions (those that could be called hidden or invisible) in resource management in influencing access to natural resources; and
§ the gendered nature of all natural resource management institutions (including the formal and informal), to determine the nature and extent of access women and men have to woodlands and water resources as regulated by these institutions in Romwe Village in Chivi District.

Case Study 2: Household decision making and livelihoods regarding use of water in small-scale commercial farms and in communal and resettlement areas.

This case study investigated household decisions and livelihoods in the context of endowments of and access to natural resources as they affect how households allocate labour, land and limited amounts of capital. The approach used in the study was to:

• describe current property regimes to natural resources; and
• investigate how household decisions and resulting livelihoods are influenced by alternative means of access to natural resources.

Case Study 3: The local institutional arrangements and access to water.

The third case study investigated access to various man-made natural water sources that are either owned communally (such as boreholes, collector wells, dams, shallow wells and rivers and streams) or privately owned (mainly deep wells or shallow wells near homesteads and in household gardens). The study also investigated the existence of local institutional arrangements that govern access to the water sources for different water uses.

The project has a capacity building component as three students are being trained to PhD level.

The research team recently held a workshop to synthesize the findings of the three case studies from 15-20 August 2004 at Palisades Centre in Jasper, Canada.

The Project Team that met in Jasper

The project will produce policy briefs which will be discussed with relevant stakeholders in Zimbabwe in early 2005.

The National Environmental Policy Process

The National Environmental Policy Process has been completed. In facilitating the process the Institute has been engaged in a highly consultative process to ensure that the policy developed fully and accurately reflect the interests and concerns and preferences of all key stakeholders in the country on issues of environmental conversation, management and protection. The Institute completed the nationwide stakeholder consultations on the Second Draft of the National Environmental Policy in March 2004. Consultations were done at provincial, district and community level. Special interest groups like the newly resettled farmers, timber industry, business and the tourism sector were also consulted.

Focusing on the community and resettled farmers consultative meetings, it is apparent that rural people in Zimbabwe are aware of issues affecting their environment and are concerned about
addressing these issues. The major resources of concern to communities are water, forests, land and minerals.

The local communities indicated that degradation of the environment in the communal areas was mainly a result of the failure of local institutions, corruption, lack of alternative means of survival and poverty. Examples were the dependance on wood for fuel due to lack of alternative means of energy and sometimes the complete lack of local by-laws to deal with various issues to do with the environment. Communities requested government to empower them to control their natural resources using some of the old traditional customs. With regards to water, there were serious concerns about access to water and the deteriorating quality of water. There were issues about the failure of institutions (both local and national) to control and ensure access to natural resources by all members of the community. More issues raised by the communities can be found in the national response document which is available at the Institute of Environmental Studies.

For further information on the project, please contact the Process Manager, Mrs. Doreen Tirivanhu on email address doreen@ies.uz.ac.zw

New Appointment at IES

Mr Antony Mamuse joined the Institute as a Research Fellow on 1st of May 2004. His appointment is for three years. Mr. Mamuse has been employed by the Geological Survey of Zimbabwe as a Senior Environmental Research Geologist. He possesses a Masters Degree in Applied Geology from Curtin University in Australia and a BSc Honours Degree in Geology from the University of Zimbabwe.

In the past five years he has worked on geoscience research covering aspects of Environmental Geochemistry and Health, Groundwater Geochemistry and Health, Physical Environment and Rural Livelihoods and Mining Pollution.