Development visions, livelihood realities – how conservation shapes agricultural value chains in the Zambezi region, Namibia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Dynamic livelihood strategies.

Table 1. Conducted interviews by category from September until November 2018.

Category	Approach and code	Number
Farmers and managers in conservancies	Go-along interview (GA_Cons1-3)	3
	FGD (FGD1-3-Cons-F/M)	11
	Interview (I_Cons1/2)	2
Farmers and extension officers in non-conservancies	Go-along interview (GA_NonCons1-3)	3
	FGD (FGD1-3-NonCons-F/M)	6
Consulting/distribution stakeholders	Semi-structured interview (I_Consult1/2)	2
Government stakeholders	Semi-structured interview (I_Gov1-5)	5
Lobby stakeholders	Semi-structured interview (I_Lobby1-4)	4
NGO stakeholders	Semi-structured interview (I_NGO1-5)	5
Total sum		41

Figure 2. Case study area: communal conservancies and non-conservancy areas in Zambezi region.

Table 2. Top-down visions of CBNRM, derived from FGDs and stakeholder interviews.

Aim	The focus is on natural resources, through our natural resources management, through tourism, what we can get out. So, the most emphasis in conservancies is on tourism and wildlife utilisation from which they can make money. But from other sources, let me just be honest it has not been explored. (I_Gov3)
	For me conservation is taking care, managing, and conserving of biodiversity and wildlife. The main aim of CBNRM is to maintain a healthy population of wildlife and at the same time assisting the communities to benefit from the natural resources, which they are living with in the area. So yes, it is for rural development, when you have wildlife; it has an economic value. (I_Gov3)
	So slowly but sure so that we are creating a market for people who are in the northern areas also. (…) Zambezi is an area that is 75 % rural and our economy is more driven by two, three sectors. One, the tourism sector plays a major part in terms of foreign income and in terms of employment creation. Agriculture is the backbone of the region in terms of regional economy. These sectors make Zambezi move a bit forward, reducing the level of unemployment. If the Green Schemes are all fully functional, I see seasonal employment absorbing a number of youth in Zambezi. I see the level of unemployment being drastically reduced and I see the wellbeing of people being improved. Again, if the tourism sector like now and our wildlife conservationist is doing very well. (I_Gov4)
Implementation	With conservation, we talk about many things that should be done within the conservancy. We talk about tourism, agriculture, or whatever. We really want to see tourism within the conservancy, seeing tourists coming to visit their places, to see whatever culture they have, whatever species they have, whatever landscape. (I_Conserv2)
	(…) if you keep those areas for agriculture, hunting and tourism it can work. It only becomes a problem when one wants to be hot-headed and decides to go plough in the tourism zone or he wants to go and plough in the hunting zones. (I_Gov3)

Table 3. Accumulated income of case study conservancies and income distribution in 2017. Own calculations, based on NACSO (2017).

Conservancy	Total income (in NAD)	Hunting	Tourism	Plant utilisation	Crafts	Other
		Income sources (in %)
Bamunu	808.339	97,6				2,4
Dzoti	1.384.300	100,0
Mayuni	764.800	60,1	35,5	3,8	0,2	0,4
Sikunga	605.000	88,4		0,8		10,8
	Total benefits (in NAD)	Total share of benefits	Cash benefits	TA payment	Community projects*	HWC offsets
		Benefits distributed (in %)
Bamunu	258.641	23,6		23,8	53,0	23,2
Dzoti	232.656	18,0	4,3	19,3	63,5	12,9
Mayuni	282.196	22,6	41,5	45,2	13,3
Sikunga	27.500	3,6		72,7	27,3

* including funeral payments.

Table 4. Generalised effect mechanisms of small-scale agriculture, derived from FGDs, go-along interviews and stakeholder interviews.

	CBNRM	Non-CBNRM
Benefits	Employment possibilities in tourism, tourism revenues, employment possibilities by conservancy, distribution of benefits (limited potential)	Access to land, access water from rivers, proximity to markets, financial start-ups by government
Constraints	HWC, decline in yield, limited access to land and water due to zoning plan, distance to markets, dissociation from actors in agricultural sector	HWC increase in areas neighbouring conservancies, limited attention by NGOs
Stakeholders	MEFT, IRDNC, NACSO, private tourism enterprises, other NGOs	Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Zambezi Regional Council, private food processing companies (millers, supermarkets), extension officers

Table 5. Expressions of bottom-up perceptions on possible livelihood strategies, derived from FGDs.

Hanging in

You can have degrees and diplomas yet you remain unemployed. This is why we teach our children activities like farming as backup if there are no stable jobs. (FGD2-Dzoti-M)

I am not satisfied but we just do it (farming) because there is nothing we can do. (FGD2-Dzoti-M)

Animals are also increasing because we are now a conservancy. This has resulted in low harvests and more conflicts than before. (FGD2-Mayuni-M)

We have a problem in farming. I can plan to plough more, but the wild animals we have in the conservancy are damaging our crops. The animals are destroying our crops and we hardly get anything in the end. Our livelihoods keep going down. (FGD1-Mayuni-M)

Stepping up

There’s an association, you can register and sell to them. People with gardens then sell their vegetables to local supermarkets. They look at the quality of your products, if it’s fine then you can deliver to them. (FGD3-Dzote-M)

Having a good living standard or livelihood is when I can produce enough food for my family from my field. And I can make money from my field. (FGD1-Dzoti-F)

In terms of seeds, we don’t get them on time and this pulls our cultivation activities backwards. (…) Last week I was at Agribank to apply for a loan. I wasn’t successful because the requirement is to have a permanent house structure instead of a mud house. Now how can we as farmers develop when we cannot have access to these loans? (FGD2-Mayuni-M)

Stepping out

Tourism activities are also creating jobs in the community. You can have a job and still be a farmer. Once you retire from that job and move back to village, if you never farmed how will you live? (FGD3-Dzoti-M)

We are now prohibited to set foot in core areas where one would get attacked by wild animals. Lodges are also beneficial because the youth are employed in these facilities and with the little that they get they are able to support themselves financially. (FGD2-Mayuni-F)

Figure 3. Examples of livelihood strategies in regard to participation and value chain integration.

NACSO, 2017. Namibia’s communal conservancies: Annual conservancy performance ratings & audit reports for the year 2017. NACSO.

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