Economic Significance of Buffalo in Namibia

The high potential income which buffalo can add to present wildlife earnings can maximise the income from land in the Caprivi and provide the incentive for additional land to be managed under wildlife. The income would be adequate not only to meet the State's operating costs but also to earn significant additional revenue. Under normal population growth rates (5%), it would take about 33 years to achieve the desired numbers - but this might be accelerated if favourable conditions in the Caprivi buffalo range attract animals from the Botswana buffalo population which is close to carrying capacity.

Sport hunting in the Caprivi

The potential rôle of buffalo in a land use context is very significant. Martin's financial Analysis for Sport Hunting in the Caprivi (Analysis 1) shows that if buffalo numbers in the Caprivi could be increased to the levels at which they should naturally occur, this would more than double the present economic returns from land and benefit both conservancies and State Protected Areas.

Analysis 1: Sport hunting in the Caprivi

With the present population of 3,000 buffalo in the Caprivi, the potential net earnings from safari hunting (of the full wildlife complement) are about US$2.5 million. The addition of a further 12,000 buffalo would raise the net income to about US$7.5 million (with no changes to densities of the other species). This is an average return of US$ 7.5/hectare, which is considerably higher than the earnings possible from both cattle and subsistence agricultural systems.

Assuming that the safari operator takes US$2.5/hectare of the net earnings, the balance available to the State and Conservancies at full development would be about US$5/hectare. The required operating costs for the entire Buffalo Management Plan, which include the full operating costs for all State Protected Areas in Caprivi, are slightly over one million US$ per annum. At full development this could be obtained from safari hunting on 2,000km2 out of the total of 8,000 km2 of State Protected Areas. The total area of established Conservancies in the Caprivi is approximately 2,000 km2 and, assuming buffalo achieve the required numbers in these conservancies, their combined annual earnings would amount to about US$1 million.

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Sport Hunting on Commercial Farms in Northern Namibia

Analysis 2: Sport hunting on farms

Buffalo are a pivotal species in the safari hunting industry and have the potential to raise land use values in northern Namibia from their present 'break-even' level to a significant profitability. The introduction of buffalo on northern Namibian commercial farms which are disadvantaged by low rainfall and cannot expect net returns of more than a few US dollars per hectare, would have a dramatic impact (Analysis 2). In the typical habitats and rainfall regime of the westerly farms in northern Namibia, the presence of buffalo in a safari hunting regime should increase the net income from land by about US$2/hectare. Given the low profitability of all farming systems in this semi-arid environment, this represents a substantial boost and could make the difference between profit and loss in the land use system.

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Disease Free Buffalo

The Tsumkwe population and the Waterberg buffalo present a conservation and economic opportunity to the Namibian scientific and management authorities. There are some 300 disease-free buffalo located in the two sites and both groups are beginning to exceed carrying capacity. The buffalo are extremely valuable because they are disease-free (In 2002 prices in the southern African live sales market for buffalo were ca. N$200,000 per animal).

The value of the animals provides a unique opportunity to

• fund buffalo conservation efforts in Namibia: The sale of a number of disease-free buffalo would provide the funds needed for carrying out the management programme for these buffalo. For example, the costs of fencing a new 10,000ha paddock for the Tsumkwe buffalo might be N$500,000 (40km @ N$12.5/metre): this can be paid for by the sale of 2 buffalo. The returns are immediate.
• to strengthen conservancies: Nyae Nyae conservancy should be recognised as the 'co-owners' of the Tsumkwe herd, be fully consulted on its management and should benefit to the maximum extent from all sales. This situation does not arise in the case of the Waterberg buffalo but the wildlife department might choose to use some of the animals to begin new populations which will ultimately benefit conservancies.

Introductions of buffalo to protected areas where they formerly occurred will enhance the biological diversity of the parks and may result in a marginal increase of tourism revenues.