Butterflies for money excites Coastal women

When Jamilla Rashid was growing up, there was talk that butterflies were demonic. She feared the dark coloured ones; especially those with wings that seemed to glow in the dark.

She remembers how she would swat them out of the house while whispering prayers to cleanse the rooms where the butterflies had landed.

“We were told butterflies that leave powdery stuff on the surfaces were sprinkling demonic forces in the home. We were also told it is only witch doctors who keep butterflies,” says Jamilla.

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Power in numbers

She never imagined she would later spend most of her days with a trap at the Arabuko Sokoke forest in Kilifi, looking for butterflies.

It all started when she was looking for firewood in the forest and she bumped into two women carrying netted traps. On inquiring, they told her they were looking for butterflies to breed and sell.

They explained how they had met researchers from Kenya Forest Service who told them about Kipepeo project, an enterprise at the Coast that links butterfly farmers with external markets.

Getting best prices

She was excited and curious. The thought that there were people outside the country willing to pay for what she considered demonic, fascinated her. The apprehension that came with her past belief was still there, but her life circumstances pushed her to seek more information.

“I was a housewife with three children. I had tried business, but I was always in debt. The idea that I could get into the forest and get butterflies for money sounded interesting,” she says.

She approached one of the women to teach her how to start butterfly farming. Before long, she was among the group who visits the forest every morning to trap butterflies to take home and breed.

They created an association to strengthen their voices when negotiating prices of their butterflies. They formed the Gede Community Forest Association (GCFA).

Charo Ngumba, chairman of the association, says they work with partners to ensure the members are trained on how to farm butterflies and where they can sell their catch.

“Most members lack formal education so we make things as basic as possible. We teach the features to identify in a butterfly and how to use simple items like bananas and honey to attract butterflies,” says Charo.

Basic knowledge

Fonde Elvis, KFS Ecosystem conservator in Kilifi, says since the community was allowed into the forest to do butterfly farming, instances of logging and forest degradation have reduced.

“We realised we cannot win the war on logging if we do not educate the community that environmental conservation benefits them directly,” says Fonde.

Butterfly farming is becoming a popular engagement among women and youth in the communities that live near forests.

Researchers are now reinforcing the need for involvement of communities around forests in agroforestry to prevent the conflicts between communities and government.

Dr Shem Kuyah, senior lecturer in the Department of Botany at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) says conservation efforts in the past were fruitless . This is because conservationists were using “command and control” method where lecturing communities on the importance of forests without making them feel that there are agricultural and other economic activities they can engage in if they conserve the forest.

Unique project

Hussein Adan, research scientist at the National Museum who works with the Kipepeo projects to link the farmers with markets, says they can earn as much as Sh10 million every year from the butterflies and pupae that the farmers and breeders provide them with.

The money is then shared among the farmers depending on various factors. 

They are paid based on the uniqueness of the butterflies they bring, demand, and the behaviour of the butterfly in captivity.

“There are seasons when we get a lot of orders that we can take as many butterflies from the breeders, but there are other times when we have a surplus and the market gets to dictate the price,” he says.

Their main markets are in the United States, United Kingdom and France.

Address landlessness

Griet Ingrid Dierckxsens of United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) says conservation of forest land for climate-smart agricultural practices such as when forests are opened up for farmers to use with instructions that they should not cut down the trees can reduce poverty levels. It can also address landlessness that most small scale farmers face.

She adds that one of the biggest challenges is getting the commitment of governments to support conservation projects.

“Most ministries think short term. They do not want to invest in something whose benefits they cannot immediately see,” she says.  

She says forest conservation does not necessarily mean fencing off a forest to keep loggers off and says the community should be allowed to earn from the resource and in return, they will get the motivation to conserve it.