Exploring butterfly farming as a sustainable nature-based business for Tundu, Morogoro Region, Kilosa District, Tanzania.
Village of TunduEastern Arc MountainsMatt Weir · October 2010
01 — Context
Environmental pressure, limited income.
Tundu's conservation and development challenges are bound together. Lacking economic resources can lead to unsustainable exploitation of wood resources and environmental degradation in the Eastern Arc Mountains.
Firewood collection, charcoal making, agricultural cultivation, tree and pole timbering, hunting, human-set wildfires, and livestock grazing encroach upon forests, abuse wood resources, destroy habitats, and damage canopy cover. This compromises biodiversity and threatens the region's endemic faunal species, including primates, birds, chameleons, frogs, and insects.
Many of the rural village's 4,000 residents pursue the same economic gains by selling cash crops such as sugar cane, rice, beans, cassava, and potatoes. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, among others, promotes nature-based sustainable businesses such as beetle harvesting, organic honey, medicinal plants, and raw silk.
These initiatives support a double-pronged approach: conservation and poverty alleviation through the sale of outcomes from conservation activities. With village council support and NGO aid, butterfly farming becomes a realistic economic alternative for Tundu.
Spec Nº 01 — Site pressuresLocation, household, and resource context
02 — The incentive
Income from conserving habitat.
Butterfly farming needs a functioning natural ecosystem. The business model therefore connects household income with ecological conservation, forest regeneration, and community development.
Spec Nº 02 — Conservation outcomesSales distribution and farmer conservation attitudes
Nature-based sustainable businesses can provide income that may be used to improve residential structures and diversify livelihoods.
The Amani Butterfly Project enables rural Tanzanians in six villages of the East Usambara Mountains to farm and market native butterflies. Its mission is to reduce poverty and create incentives for forest conservation by training villagers to farm native butterflies.
ABP educates butterfly farmers in harvesting techniques, marketing, export, financial management, and conservation. Farmers harvest butterfly pupae for sale through ABP representatives to butterfly exhibits in the United States and Europe.
400+Rural Tanzanians supported by ABP
6Villages around the East Usambara Mountains
20%Average household income increase reported
150Butterfly farmers in the 2007 study
Butterfly farmers only need to catch about a half dozen wild butterflies each year — yet the activity can create enough economic incentive to protect previously disturbed forests.
Adapted from the original article's conservation summary
03 — Behaviour change
From extraction to stewardship.
Butterfly farmers were more likely to take part in activities that protect the ecological base their income depends upon.
Butterfly farmers are especially concerned by environmental issues and illegal forest activities that compete with their ability to generate capital gains. The villages of Msasa and Kwezitu experienced increases in forest conservation behaviours.
These included participation in village environmental committees, planting timber and non-timber trees, discouraging or reporting illegal cutting in protected forests, and preserving natural forest on household land.
Farmers also stopped destructive firewood cutting, organised a tree planting campaign, and secured village forest reserves. Tundu could consider managed wood plots for firewood and charcoal to more easily conserve natural areas while promoting butterfly farming.
Spec Nº 03 — Community networksWorkshops, host plants, farmers, and local participation
04 — Practice
Cages, equipment, species & conditions.
A successful butterfly farming system combines appropriate cage design, low-cost equipment, careful species selection, and local environmental knowledge.
Spec Nº 04 — Cage optionsButterfly cage materials and configurations
Male and female butterflies are placed in cages that recreate natural habitats and encourage reproduction. Eggs are laid on host plants and develop into pupae. Netting options include shade net, mosquito net, clear plastic, and thin white cloth cages.
Low-cost equipment such as planting bags, hanging traps, and sweep nets is crucial. Sales, packaging, and shipping are coordinated by an NGO.
01
Altitude
Butterfly diversity improves across altitudinal range, with an ideal range around 800–1000m ASL near Tundu.
02
Pupae period length
Species with too-short pupal periods may hatch during a 3–4 day shipping process.
03
Price + market
African butterflies are in high demand, but abundant species may sell for lower prices.
04
Humid microclimate
Cages should sit near streams and natural vegetation; dry-season farming requires watering host plants.
05 — Species selection
Farmable species, market fit.
Not every species in the Udzungwa Mountains can be farmed. The most viable choices balance availability, pupal life, market value, host plant knowledge, and shipment timing.
Spec Nº 05 — Farmability matrixSpecies considerations for the Tundu area
06 — Household systems
Designing livelihoods around butterflies.
The original page proposes conceptual household layouts that show butterfly farming as a second income and as part of a more connected household economy.
Conceptual residential design #1 shows economic diversification through butterfly farming. This household receives capital to harvest seedlings and manage a small shamba. The butterfly cage should be situated to maximise sunlight. The family can also harvest grasses as another nature-based sustainable business.
Conceptual residential design #2 describes a higher-income household where butterfly farming enables a larger shamba, seedling production, and livestock management. Livestock can provide energy through a biogas system, reducing the need to collect firewood, charcoal, and other wood resources.
Refined manure from the biogas system provides fertilizer for the shamba. The first household can trade or sell grasses for livestock in exchange for manure, creating a mutually beneficial local loop.
ABP demonstrates how government agencies, NGOs, and local communities can collectively make progress on poverty and conservation through small-scale butterfly farming.
Before pursuing butterfly farming, Tundu would need to acknowledge and respond to several recommendations: village leadership, community representation, government and NGO relationships, stakeholder workshops, membership fees, infrastructure, and continued education around host plants, growing techniques, forest conservation, and regeneration.
Appoint village leadership and community representation.
Contact government agencies and NGOs such as TFCG and ABP.
Conduct stakeholder and community workshops.
Establish and collect appropriate village membership fees.
Secure reliable infrastructure.
Continue education of butterfly host plants and growing techniques.
Continue education of forest conservation and regeneration.
08 — Sources
Works cited & bibliography.
Bibliography retained from the original article.
Amani Butterfly Project. The Tanzania Forest Conservation Group.
Black, S. H., M. Shepard, and M. M. Allen. 2001. Endangered Invertebrates: The Case for Greater Attention to Invertebrate Conservation. Endangered Species Update 18:41.
Kikula, I.S., E.Z. Mnzava, and C. Mung'ong'o, 2003, Shortcomings of Linkages between Environmental Conservation Initiatives and Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania. Research Report no. 03.2, Research on Poverty Alleviation, Dar es Salaam.
Morgan-Brown, Theron. Results of a butterfly survey of the Udzungwa Escarpment above Chita village from June 13th – June 15th. Butterfly Survey Report provided by Baraka Degraff, 17 June 2010.
Morgan-Brown, Theron. 2003. Butterfly Farming in the East Usambara Mountains. Research report submitted to COSTECH.
Morgan-Brown, T. 2007. Butterfly Farming and Conservation Behaviour in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. Master of Science Thesis, University of Florida. Town and Country Planning space Standards Regulation, 1997.
Slone, T. H., L. J. Orsak, and O. Malver. 1997. A comparison of price, rarity and cost of butterfly specimens: Implications for the insect trade and for habitat conservation. Ecological Economics 21:77–85.
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