IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v75y2012icp72-82.html

Elephants in the garden: Financial and social costs of crop raiding

Author

Listed:
  • Mackenzie, Catrina A.
  • Ahabyona, Peter

Abstract

Residents near protected areas disproportionately bear conservation costs, in part due to crop raiding by protected animals when protected areas are situated within an agricultural landscape. These costs increase as conservation efforts lead to recovery of animal populations, and human population growth increases the proportion of land outside the parks used for agriculture. Financial and social costs associated with crop raiding were studied in 25 villages around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Perceptions about crop raiding were collected using focus groups and household surveys, while damage was evaluated based on physical monitoring of crop raiding incidents. The average financial loss for farmers around the park over six months was US$74 (1.5% of median household capital asset wealth) and damage was particularly high within 0.5km of the park boundary. Households experiencing crop raiding were more prone to food insecurity, and higher rates of self-reported human and livestock diseases, while children from villages bordering the park tended to have poorer scholastic achievement. Compensation is not affordable for the wildlife authority, nor is it sustainable as crop raiding is escalating. To mitigate costs for local communities, funding has been justified for the implementation of crop raiding defenses.

Suggested Citation

  • Mackenzie, Catrina A. & Ahabyona, Peter, 2012. "Elephants in the garden: Financial and social costs of crop raiding," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 72-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:75:y:2012:i:c:p:72-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.12.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800911005349
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.12.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ellis, Frank & Mdoe, Ntengua, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1367-1384, August.
    2. Ellis, Frank & Bahiigwa, Godfrey, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 997-1013, June.
    3. Simmons, John & Alexander, Leigh, 1978. "The Determinants of School Achievement in Developing Countries: A Review of the Research," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 341-357, January.
    4. Ellis, Frank & Kutengule, Milton & Nyasulu, Alfred, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1495-1510, September.
    5. Antoine Bommier & Sylvie Lambert, 2000. "Education Demand and Age at School Enrollment in Tanzania," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(1), pages 177-203.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:osf:agrixi:5uczf_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. World Bank, 2021. "Banking on Protected Areas," World Bank Publications - Reports 35737, The World Bank Group.
    3. Mbanze, Aires Afonso & Vieira da Silva, Carina & Ribeiro, Natasha Sofia & Santos, José Lima, 2021. "Participation in illegal harvesting of natural resources and the perceived costs and benefits of living within a protected area," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Yeshey & Rebecca M. Ford & Rodney J. Keenan & Craig R. Nitschke, 2022. "Subsistence Farmers’ Understanding of the Effects of Indirect Impacts of Human Wildlife Conflict on Their Psychosocial Well-Being in Bhutan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, October.
    5. Ram Ranjan, 2017. "Tuskers, tasty crops and the forest tribes in between: managing HECs through financial incentives in human–elephant–forest ecosystems," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 79-95, January.
    6. Ango, Tola Gemechu & Börjeson, Lowe & Wisborg, Poul & Senbeta, Feyera & Alem, Habtamu, 2022. "Coffee, child labour, and education: Examining a triple social–ecological trade-off in an Afromontane forest landscape," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Mackenzie, Catrina A., 2012. "Accruing benefit or loss from a protected area: Location matters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 119-129.
    8. Elissa Z Cameron & Sadie J Ryan, 2016. "Welfare at Multiple Scales: Importance of Zoo Elephant Population Welfare in a World of Declining Wild Populations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-4, July.
    9. MacKenzie, Catrina A., 2018. "Risk, Reciprocity and Retribution: Choosing to Extract Resources From a Protected Area," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 314-323.
    10. Yicheng Wang & Peng Qin & Shimei Li & Ruidong Wu, 2023. "Schoolchildren in China’s Protected Areas from a Sustainability Perspective: A Preliminary Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-12, June.
    11. Swen P. M. Bos & Tina Cornioley & Anne Dray & Patrick O. Waeber & Claude A. Garcia, 2020. "Exploring Livelihood Strategies of Shifting Cultivation Farmers in Assam through Games," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Bos, Swen & Cornioley, Tina & Dray, Anne & Waeber, Patrick & Garcia, Claude A., 2019. "Exploring trajectories of shifting-cultivation landscapes through games the case of Assam India," AgriXiv 5uczf, Center for Open Science.
    13. Singh, Ayushi & Srivastava, Samir K., 2026. "Sacred and stray: Policy analysis for managing cattle population," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 196-217.
    14. Dr. Medard Twinamatsiko & Grace Kagoro, 2024. "Does Equity Matter in Natural Resource and Livelihood Benefits? Revenue Sharing Policy Implementation at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 11(5), pages 571-606, May.
    15. Blanco, Julien & Sourdril, Anne & Deconchat, Marc & Barnaud, Cécile & San Cristobal, Magali & Andrieu, Emilie, 2020. "How farmers feel about trees: Perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices associated with rural forests in southwestern France," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    16. Madhumita Das & Bani Chatterjee, 2020. "Livelihood In Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, India: An Impact Assessment Of Ecotourism Practices," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(03), pages 653-681, June.
    17. Sudhir Kumawat, 2023. "Wetland Management Quality as a Determinant of Human-Wildlife Conflict Intensity: Evidence from Rajasthan's Wetland Ecosystems," Inventum Biologicum: An International Journal of Biological Research, World BIOLOGICA, vol. 3(4), pages 137-147.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santotomas Licimaco Aguilar-Pinto & Julio Cesar Quispe-Mamani & Dominga Asunción Calcina-Álvarez & Nelly Jacqueline Ulloa-Gallardo & Roxana Madueño-Portilla & Mindi Fabiola Lizárraga-Álvarez & Adderly, 2023. "Public Services in the Household and Their Effect on Poverty, Analysis for the Peruvian Case, 2021," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Phiri, Isaac, 2020. "The effect of access to finance on commercialisation of smallholder maize farmers in Eswatini," Research Theses 334755, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    3. Laibuni, N. & Kirui, L., 2018. "Transforming Livestock Production through Systems Thinking Approach: the case of West Pokot and Narok Counties," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276020, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Khan, Qaiser & Faguet, Jean-Paul & Ambel, Alemayehu, 2017. "Blending Top-Down Federalism with Bottom-Up Engagement to Reduce Inequality in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 326-342.
    5. Timothy R. Silberg & Robert B. Richardson & Maria Claudia Lopez, 2020. "Maize farmer preferences for intercropping systems to reduce Striga in Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 269-283, April.
    6. Quang Tran, Tuyen, 2012. "A review on the link between nonfarm activities, land and rural livelihoods in Vietnam and developing countries," MPRA Paper 55850, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Nov 2013.
    7. Maia Green, 2015. "Making Africa middle class: From poverty reduction to the production of inequality in Tanzania," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 295-309, June.
    8. Yang, Jing & Shi, Jianxun & Xu, Ling, 2025. "Effect of digital finance on household financial asset allocation: a social psychology perspective," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Nicholas R. Magliocca, 2015. "Model-Based Synthesis of Locally Contingent Responses to Global Market Signals," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-35, September.
    10. Mahwish Siraj & Humayun Khan, 2019. "Impact of Micro Hydropower Projects on Household Income, Expenditure and Diversification of Livelihood Strategies in Azad Jammu and Kashmir," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 45-63.
    11. World Bank, 2011. "Who Governs Rural Russia?," World Bank Publications - Reports 27449, The World Bank Group.
    12. Frances Cleaver & Anna Toner, 2006. "The evolution of community water governance in Uchira, Tanzania: The implications for equality of access, sustainability and effectiveness," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(3), pages 207-218, August.
    13. Diether W. Beuermann & Maria Amelina, 2018. "Does participatory budgeting improve decentralized public service delivery? Experimental evidence from rural Russia," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 339-379, November.
    14. Tilahun, Mesfin & Maertens, Miet & Deckers, Jozef & Muys, Bart & Mathijs, Erik, 2016. "Impact of membership in frankincense cooperative firms on rural income and poverty in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 95-108.
    15. repec:iwt:worppr:h045795 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Ahmed, M. & Gautam, M. & Sen, B., 2018. "Waves of Change: Understanding Ascent, Descent and Persistence of Poverty in Rural Bangladesh," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277340, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Rita Afsar, 2010. "Poverty, Inequality and the Challenges of Pro-Poor Governance in Bangladesh," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 5(2), pages 187-219, October.
    18. Elisa Portale, 2012. "Socio-Economic Sustainability of Biofuel Production in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from a Jatropha Outgrower Model in Rural Tanzania," CID Working Papers 56, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    19. Mwale, Martin Limbikani, 2022. "Unintended consequences of farm input subsidies: women’s contraceptive usage and knock-on effects on children," MPRA Paper 112689, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Abel Kinyondo & Riccardo Pelizzo & Kristina Bekenova, 2019. "The Poverty of Data in Africa: Why the Continent Needs More Bacon," World Affairs, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 182(4), pages 302-323, December.
    21. Wenjia Peng & Hua Zheng & Brian E. Robinson & Cong Li & Fengchun Wang, 2017. "Household Livelihood Strategy Choices, Impact Factors, and Environmental Consequences in Miyun Reservoir Watershed, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-12, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:75:y:2012:i:c:p:72-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.