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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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National

Coal train in flames: NRZ locomotive damaged in fire incident

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BY WANDILE TSHUMA 

A National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) locomotive suffered significant damage after catching fire while transporting export coal to Zambi. The incident occurred between Kalala and Matetsi sidings, resulting in the explosion of the locomotive’s fuel tanks.

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According to the NRZ press statement on Monday, “A National Railways of Zimbabwe locomotive suffered some damages after it caught fire this afternoon while transporting export coal to Zambia.” Fortunately, the crew members on board managed to escape unharmed.

The NRZ responded swiftly to the incident, dispatching a rescue train with crews to the site. The team successfully extinguished the fire, preventing further damage. However, the locomotive itself sustained considerable damage.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, with investigations currently underway. “Investigations are already underway to establish the cause of the fire and the amount of damage to the locomotive,” the NRZ statement read.

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In the community

Human-wildlife conflict claims 18 lives in Zimbabwe’s first quarter

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI 

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has reported a disturbing trend of human-wildlife conflict in the country’s first quarter of 2025. According to the authority, 18 people have lost their lives, and 32 others have been injured in encounters with wildlife.

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ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo revealed that the authority received 579 cases of human-wildlife conflict, which they managed to respond to promptly. The incidents have also resulted in significant livestock losses, with at least 53 cattle and 85 goats killed by wildlife.

The districts most affected by these incidents include Binga, Hwange, Kariba, Chiredzi, Hurungwe, Nyaminyami, and Mbire. ZimParks has been working tirelessly to raise awareness about wildlife behaviors and effective preventive measures in these areas.

In response to the crisis, ZimParks has translocated 129 animals back into protected areas and eliminated 158 animals deemed problematic.

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“We encourage communities to continue reporting incidents to ZimParks Problem Animal Control numbers and local leadership, such as Councillors, Traditional Leaders, and Rural District Council Authorities, to ensure that we preserve lives,” Farawo urged.

The significant increase in livestock losses, with cattle deaths rising from 18 to 53 and goat deaths from 21 to 85 compared to the same period in 2024, highlights the growing challenge of human-wildlife conflict in Zimbabwe.

ZimParks’ efforts to mitigate the conflict include community initiatives to educate people on managing wildlife encounters effectively.

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Tens of Thousands in Zimbabwe Go Hungry as the Rains — and US Aid — Hold Back

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Tanayeishe Musau eats baobab porridge after school at his home in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, where the dish has become a daily staple amid worsening drought and hunger. Once a simple supplement, baobab porridge is now a primary meal for families like his, following widespread food shortages and the suspension of international aid.

BY LINDA MUJURU

This story was originally published by Global Press Journal.

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Agnes Tauzeni stands on her parched field. She is a mother to two children, and is expecting another. But now, in a time that might otherwise have been joyful, her hopes wither like the struggling crops before her.

 

Three times she’s gambled on the rains; three times the sky has betrayed her. Her first two plantings failed. The soil was too dry to sustain life. Though her third attempt yielded a few weak shoots, they offered little promise of a meaningful harvest. El Niño-driven droughts have disrupted once-reliable rains, leaving Tauzeni’s family and many like hers struggling to feed themselves.

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“I am always hungry,” Tauzeni says.

 

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She worries about the health of her unborn child, based on how little nutrition she consumes herself.

 

Adding to this, food aid, previously funded by the US Agency for International Development, halted suddenly in January. That transformed what was already a struggle into a desperate battle for survival.

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The food aid ended when US President Donald Trump, on his first day in office, issued an executive order that paused nearly all US foreign aid, most of which was administered by USAID. That agency is now all but defunct.

 

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Food aid in Zimbabwe was an ongoing area of funding for USAID. In November 2024, the agency announced $130 million for two seven-year programs, implemented by CARE and Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture, that would provide food aid and other related support to areas of Zimbabwe most in need. The programs, which stopped, were just part of an ongoing slate of activities designed to help Zimbabwe’s neediest people.

 

About 7.6 million people in Zimbabwe — nearly half the country’s population — need humanitarian assistance, according to a 2025 UNICEF report. Of those, nearly 6 million, like Tauzeni, rely on subsistence farming.

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Through the support of organizations with funding from USAID, people previously received cereals, edible seeds, oil and food vouchers.

 

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“A sudden withdrawal can put the entire community in a dire situation,” says Hilton Mbozi, a seed systems and climate change expert.

 

Tauzeni recalls that her community used to receive food supplies such as beans, cooking oil and peanut butter to help combat malnutrition.

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When Tauzeni got married in 2017, her fields promised abundance. Her harvests were plentiful, and her family never lacked food. Now, those memories feel like whispers from another world. The past two agricultural seasons, those harvests have been devastatingly poor.

 

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With an empty granary and dwindling options, Tauzeni’s family survives on the same food every day: baobab porridge in the morning and sadza with wild okra in the evening. But Tauzeniworries whether even this will be on the table in the coming months.

 

“The little maize I have, I got after weeding someone else’s crops, but that won’t take us far,” she says.

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Tauzeni says a 20-kilogram (44-pound) bag of maize costs US$13 in her village, an amount out of reach for her. Her only source of income is farming. When that fails, she has no money at all.

 

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Hunger like Tauzeni experiences is widespread. Some families now eat just once a day.

 

Headman David Musau, leader of Musau village where Tauzenilives, says some people in his village did not plant any seeds this season, fearing losses due to the low rainfall. The government provides food aid inconsistently, usually 7 kilograms (15 pounds) of wheat per person for three months.

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“It’s not enough, but it helps,” he says.

 

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But without any other food aid, survival is at stake, he says. “People will die in the near future.”

 

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