The Levels of Crop Raiding by Rodents and Primates in a Subsistence Farming Community, in South Africa

Abstract

Globally, human-wildlife conflict often arises from crop raiding. Therefore, there is a need to quantify crop damage by the suspected animals around protected areas. We assessed and quantified crop damage by wildlife on subsistence farms on the edge of the Hluhluwe Game Reserve, northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Twenty farms were assessed monthly from April 2016 to March 2017, using direct observations of wildlife, detectable evidence of their consuming crops and remote camera trap footage of their presence. We recorded the animals involved in raiding, crops affected, and differences in the level of crop damage by season and farm proximity to the reserve boundary. Rodents, arthropods (mainly insects) and birds were found to feed on crops on the 20 farms, with rodents causing the highest levels of crop damage as compared to the other animals. Contrary to expectations, primates (vervet monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus and chacma baboons Papio ursinus) identified by our camera traps were not identified as raiders during our study, since these species never left the reserve to raid farms. However, camera trap footage showed that both primate species engaged in feeding behaviour on the inside boundary edge of the reserve (close to farms) during the dry season. Maize (Zea mays) was the main affected crop throughout the study. The highest level of crop damage was during the dry season compared to the wet season. The distance of farms from the reserve was not a significant predictor of the level of crop damage in the farms sampled, contrary to the findings of other studies, which mentioned that crop raiding decreases further from protected area boundary. Using trapping, crop assessment and observation, our study showed that small rather than larger animals from the neighbouring conservation area were the main crop raiders and that maize was the most affected crop, especially during the dry season. Our study showed that small rather than larger animals from the neighbouring conservation area were the main crop raiders and that maize was the most affected crop, especially during the dry season. This study concludes that mitigation measures by our studied farmers should target small mammals, concentrate on maize and should be strengthened during the dry season.