Livelihoods, Crops and Coexistence: Understanding Farmers' Agronomical Decisions in High Elephant-Conflict Landscapes

Abstract

Farmers in rural areas of Botswana depend on subsistence farming for their livelihoods. However, elephant crop-raiding is a challenge in the eastern Okavango area. To devise effective mitigation strategies, it is essential to understand farmers' rationale for crop choices, cropping methods, and perceptions about raiding. To this end, we surveyed 151 randomly selected farmers in 2018. We discovered that farmers relied on arable farming to sustain their livelihoods. The majority use a combination of their own seeds augmented with government seeds. About 95.4% of farmers suffered crop loss to elephants, yet only 35.8% indicated that elephants influence how they arrange crops during plantings. Food preference, crop importance to household and free seeds were leading determinants of the type of crop to grow, rather than vulnerability to elephant raiding. Despite knowing that elephants damage cereal and fruit crops more than legumes, most farmers still preferred to grow these crops since they are a primary component for household consumption. Nonetheless, farmers were willing to grow new crops (87.4%) and adopt new planting methods (84.10%) if it would reduce elephant raiding. However, they strongly believe that planting strategies cannot mitigate the problem. Ultimately, the study highlights that knowledge-sharing platforms to squash negative perceptions, affordability, farmers' preferences, and culture critically influence the farmers' considerations for adopting cropping attributes proposed to improve crop resilience and food security. Therefore, participatory inclusion of stakeholders is key to enhance mitigation acceptance, adoption and long-term sustenance. The resilience measures can improve attitudes towards elephants, minimise crop loss and facilitate coexistence with elephants in communities adjacent to protected areas.