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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.