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‘Vibrant’ cross-border trade in mopane worms from Botswana to South Africa

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BY SHERE BEGA

James Sekonya has spent more than six years studying mopane worms but he has still never tasted the edible caterpillars.

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Sekonya, of the University of Cape Town’s department of environmental and geographical sciences, is the author of a new study that examines the “lucrative” cross-border trade in mopane worms, the caterpillar phase of the Imbrasia belina moth.

Historically, mopane worms have been harvested and consumed at the household level, with surplus used in barter trade to meet other household needs or to be shared with family, according to his thesis.

“Increasingly, mopane worms are gaining popularity among consumers in large cities and outside their natural range. An increasing rural-to-urban migration has driven the growing popularity as urban consumers reconnect with their rural lives.”

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Vibrant trade

Estimates show that the mopane worm trade generates between $39-million and $100-million a year, “depending on the quality of the outbreak and prevailing weather conditions”.

In South Africa, this market is concentrated in peri-urban areas and is supplied by imports from Botswana and Zimbabwe, with most of this value accruing to traders rather than harvesters, the study notes.

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Harvesting and related processing occur in Botswana, while bulk trading and vending are more concentrated in the South African markets.

Two factors are influential. “First, market prices have been shown to increase exponentially in times of shortage from June to November, long after harvesters had sold off their stock at lower prices. Second, traders increase profits through exporting to markets in South Africa where demand far exceeds supply from local harvest.”

Cumbersome’ regulations

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Despite the numerous benefits of the trade, regulation is often “cumbersome, confusing, and debilitating” for impoverished individuals who wish to enter it, he said.

“This cross-border trade is regulated through legal, informal, and traditional rules, norms, and practices. Harvesters, exporters and traders have to navigate the constraints that result from the regulatory tools and take advantage of the gaps in the regulatory systems.”

Some resorted to varying levels of informality in which people complied with the regulations only where no alternatives existed, or they were guaranteed to gain more benefits.

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“Nonetheless, influential, powerful, and wealthier actors were less constrained by the regulatory duplications and overlaps across the trade between Botswana and South Africa.”

Environmental change

During his master’s, Sekonya studied the effect of environmental change on mopane worm livelihoods in Limpopo. He found that expanding villages, the use of the mopane tree for fuel wood and material for fencing, among others, is shrinking the habitat of mopane worms.

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“As a result, people who rely on harvesting in the local ‘forests’ are having less to harvest and the drought at the time worsened the situation,” he said. “The knock-on effects of that is when we went into the markets, we found that there was actually a lot of stock coming from outside of the country as a result of the decline in that region.”

He decided to dig deeper into the governance angle, “which I expected to be more prominent given the international borders that actors must cross to facilitate the trade”.

Sekonya found that although the importation of mopane worms caused prices to climb in South Africa, there was a strong preference for the stock coming from Botswana “because it’s been processed differently” — it is boiled in salt water after harvesting.

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“The mopane worms from Botswana are bigger, purely based on the time at which people harvest. There’s still an understanding that one doesn’t just harvest when they see a caterpillar on a tree.

“They wait for them to reach a particular size and only harvest at that time. So, they’re much bigger and they have reached maturity, so to speak. The guts … have a lot less leaf matter, it’s got a lot of fat, and tastes good, so they say.”

Alternative protein

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Globally, there is a growing interest in farming edible insects because they offer alternative protein at much less carbon and water footprint compared with meat. But commercialisation of these resources has a potential to spill over to the wild populations in contexts where commercial farming is not feasible.

“If the demand keeps increasing, obviously the supply will have to follow the trend,” said Sekonya. “I doubt that the wild populations in South Africa will be able to keep up.

“If we keep importing, especially from Botswana, we should be fine, but if mopane worms continue to be as popular as they are, and match the increasing popularity of edible insects in other countries across the world, there will be a need to start farming mopane worms as food and as feed. To protect the wild populations, the need for farming is becoming more obvious.”

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He added that in South Africa mopane worms are not a high value species. “It doesn’t enjoy any protection and any dedicated regulations that deal with its harvesting, which is the opposite to what is happening in Botswana …

“There is plenty South Africa can do to emulate what is happening in Zimbabwe and Botswana to tap into the potential value of mopane worms to really unlock it to secure people’s livelihoods.”

Among the study’s recommendations is that Botswana and South Africa collaborate on developing a regulatory framework that promotes “seamless” cross-border movement while ensuring a greater pro-poor focus.

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“This envisaged collaboration could help to empower impoverished harvesters and traders … and promote sustainable harvesting practices.”

Cultural identity

The study underscores the need to streamline statutory, customary and informal governance approaches particularly “as the three systems are not separate”, and to pursue an “unambiguous, pro-poor agenda” focused on safeguarding informal, resource-based livelihoods and the sustainable use of mopane worms.

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Although commercialisation attracts prospective actors for economic reasons, mopane worms remain an inherent part of local diets, cultural identity, customary practices and livelihoods in harvester communities, according to the report.

These values must be considered when policy frameworks aimed at promoting resource commercialisation are designed and implemented.

“Had it not been through indigenous knowledge of mopane worms as a food source, it would just be a pest,” Sekonya said.

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“It’s because of that culture, that knowledge of mopane worms as a very nutritious food source that it has now become a commercial product. The preservation of cultural practices and indigenous knowledge is one thing that must not be overlooked.

“There are the livelihoods of people who rely on mopane worms, who are not commercially driven, who are not business people, who are just people in communities who harvest this from communal forests to earn a living because there are very limited economic opportunities in their villages.

Should mopane worms blow up into this very lucrative product, which I think it will, protecting players on the other end of the scale will be very important.- Mail&Guardian

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Zimbabwe’s new mothers face extortion for ‘free’ child health cards

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Photo credit: Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ Zimbabwe

BY GAMUCHIRAI MASIYIWA

Summary: The quiet return of maternity fees and the black-market sale of essential documents put extra burdens on mothers as they struggle to navigate a broken system.

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First-time mother Connie Jowastands with her 3-month-old baby nestled against her back, chatting with other mothers in line. Like many women at this crowded clinic in Harare’s Mabvuku suburb, Jowa is trying to get a Child Health Card, which was unavailable when she gave birth at a public hospital, and was still out of reach at her local clinic. Health cards are mysteriously out of stock.

 

But they can be bought under the table, if you know who to ask and are willing to pay.

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Zimbabwe’s Child Health Cards, meant to be free to new mothers, are crucial documents that track babies’ growth, vaccinations and medical histories. Without them, each clinic visit becomes a reset button. Inquiry into the child’s medical history starts from scratch. Since July 2024, the cards have disappeared from health facilities across Harare’s central hospitals and 42 council clinics — even though the card’s producers say they’re making enough to meet demand. This artificial shortage has birthed a shadow market where clinic staff quietly sell this essential document to desperate mothers. This sort of nickel-and-dime bribery exposes deep cracks in a health care system that’s already failing the most vulnerable people.

 

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What started as a clandestine operation has become an open secret.

 

“When cards arrive at a clinic, they’re kept by the sister in charge. But it’s usually nurse aides or junior staff who sell them, working in cahoots with other staff members,” says Simbarashe James Tafirenyika, who leads the Zimbabwe Municipality’s Nurses and Allied Workers Union.

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Someone who sells 100 cards can pocket around US$500, she says, and none of that money goes to the government of the council.

 

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The going rate for the Child Health Card is US$5, say several mothers who spoke to Global Press Journal.

 

Medical Histories on Scraps of Paper

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When the system works as designed, every mother receives a Child Health Card when her baby is born. Now, most mothers must track their infants’ medical histories on scraps of paper.

 

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Harare’s council clinics alone deliver more than 3,000 babies every month, with each mother left scrambling for documentation.

 

“I feel hurt,” Jowa says. “I want to know what vaccines my child has received and their purposes, but I just can’t get that information.”

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A nurse aide assistant at one of the council clinics has witnessed this shadow market.

 

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“If a nurse is selling, they ask the mother to be ‘skillful’ if they need the card,” says the assistant, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. In Zimbabwe, “skillful” is a common euphemism for paying small bribes.

 

While the Ministry of Health and Child Care is supposed to supply the cards for free, Prosper Chonzi, the City of Harare’s director of health, admits supplies have been erratic for six months and that people have complained about being forced to purchase these cards. Clinic workers may be exploiting the known shortage and coordinating among themselves to sell the cards rather than providing them for free, he says.

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“We can’t rule that out,” he says.

 

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The card shortage coincides with the quiet return of maternity fees in public hospitals. Though not officially announced, hospitals have begun billing mothers after delivery — a policy change the government would neither confirm nor deny.

 

High Inflation, More Corruption

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Between 2011 and 2024, more than 1 million pregnant women in the country delivered babies for free at health care clinics, under a scheme called results-based financing. Maternal mortality rates dropped during that time.

 

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But these gains, partly achieved through better access to safe delivery services, face new hurdles as budget constraints and economic pressures reshape the health care landscape.

 

Even in 2021, a study from Transparency International Zimbabwe surveyed over 1,000 people in Zimbabwe and found that 74% had been asked to pay a bribe while trying to access health care services. A feeling of being underpaid amidst a deteriorating economy and high inflation was a key driver among health workers who solicitated bribes, which has been a rising trend, according to the study.

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“The motivation for earning an extra income is strong especially in countries with a high rate of inflation,” the study states.

 

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Zimbabwe’s health care system faces chronic challenges, including an exodus of health workers to other countries, inadequate funding, drug shortages, obsolete infrastructure and more. In 1991, the government introduced user fees across public institutions as part of an economic structural adjustment program. The government abolished the fees in 2011, only to partially reinstate them around 2013.

 

Prudence Hanyani, a community activist in Harare, says the reintroduction of user fees in public hospitals will burden women who already shoulder extra costs, like paying for midwives, so they can get better treatment when giving birth.

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“Maternal health services should be free,” she says, “because giving birth is a service for the nation that contributes to the country’s population.”

 

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Mothers Pay the Price

 

Valerie Shangwa, who gave birth four and a half months ago at a private maternity hospital, still has no card for her daughter.

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“You know how difficult it is to keep a paper,” she says. “When nurses ask about last month’s weight, you end up guessing, and that distorts the whole record.”

 

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Charlton Prickise, technical director at Print Flow, says his company sells Child Health Cards only to government-authorized health facilities and faces no shortages.

 

“The shortages mean health facilities simply aren’t coming to get them,” he says.

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Though Print Flow hasn’t detected leaks, Prickise recalls finding other versions of this card on the market two years ago, possibly from a nongovernmental organization. Print Flow isn’t the sole supplier of the cards, and they haven’t received any government orders recently.

 

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In a written response to Global Press Journal, Donald Mujiri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Child Care, said the shortage of Child Health Cards is due to supply chain inefficiencies and insufficient donor funding. The cards, he says, are procured with government funding and aid from supporting partners such as the United Nations Children’s Fund. Nevertheless, Mujiri says, the ministry needs to strengthen the supply chain management system at all levels and proactively mobilize resources for procuring the cards.

 

Meanwhile, mothers wait — or pay the price. Faith Musinami, 26, delivered her daughter in July 2024. An orderly told her the clinic only had cards for boys, but if she wanted, they could organize one for US$5. Musinami had not budgeted for the cost. She sacrificed the last penny she had.

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This story was originally published by Global Press Journal.

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National

Ranger killed by elephant in Kariba

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI 

A 62-year-old ranger, Josphat Mandishara, was tragically killed by an elephant in Kariba yesterday.

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Mandishara, who worked for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), was on patrol in the Gatche-gatche area with fellow rangers and police officers.

At around 10 pm, Mandishara returned to the harbor where their boat was docked, and that’s when he encountered the elephant. The elephant charged at him, causing fatal injuries. His colleagues were nearby, resupplying at the Gatche-gatche Irrigation Scheme.

Mandishara’s body was taken to Kariba District Hospital for a post-mortem, and the incident was reported to the police.

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ZimParks has sent a team to manage the problem elephant and prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Director General of ZimParks, Prof. Edson Gandiwa, and his team have sent condolences to Mandishara’s family, friends, and colleagues. Mandishara will be remembered for his dedication to wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe.

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In the community

Crocodile attacks claim 9 lives, injure 11

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

A surge in crocodile attacks has left a trail of death and destruction in Zimbabwe, with 9 fatalities and 11 injuries reported in the last two months.

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According to a statement released by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), 49 human-crocodile conflict cases were recorded during the same period, resulting in the loss of 44 cattle and 60 goats.

The Mid-Zambezi region, which includes Lake Kariba, Angwa River, and Hunyani River, was the hardest hit, with 19 cases reported. The Central region recorded 14 cases, while 16 cases were reported in other areas, including Matopo, Harare, North-West Matabeleland, and South-East Low-veld.

ZimParks has urged communities to exercise extreme caution, especially around water bodies, during the current rain season. The authority has advised communities to ensure that livestock and children are not left unattended near rivers or lakes, and to take precautions when engaging in water activities such as fishing, swimming, and domestic chores.

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To mitigate the situation, ZimParks is working closely with local authorities and conservation partners to raise public awareness and promote safety practices. The authority has emphasized its commitment to finding a balance between ensuring public safety and conserving wildlife.

As the situation continues to unfold, ZimParks has appealed to the public to remain vigilant and to report any crocodile sightings or attacks to the authorities.

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