Documents for farmers
The solution to predator-farmer conflict will not be found in conservation organisations, although they may help. In the final instance it is farmers that will determine the success (or not) of any strategy and the "best" solution will be determined by every farmer's own unique circumstances. For this reason it is important to get information on the current status with regards to predators from as many Namibian farmers as possible. One of the most important aspects of this research project is to get information on the current methods used by farmers (including killing predators), as well as the costs of the different methods and how effective they truly are to prevent livestock losses.
Although the Cheetah Conservation Fund did a similar survey in the 1990's (in the districts of Windhoek, Omitara, Okahandja, Hochfeld, Othiwarongo, Outjo and Otavi) followed by other researchers, much has changed since then. Therefore I had a survey in the May 2014 AgriForum which can also be downloaded here. The more farmers participate, the more trustworthy and useful the results and possible solutions will be. Since I only receive limited responses so far, I approached the NAU and wrote 2 CyberTracker applications, one to be used for recording and planning general farmer management and the other more focused on the predators. You need to download CyberTracker first and install it on your (Windows) computer, then open the downloaded app (RoofdierBestuur.MDB) in CyberTracker and then click on "Install To Mobile Device" in CyberTracker to install it to the smart phone / mobile device, following the instructions. More detailed instructions (in Afrikaans) can be found here.
Another way to get involved, is to invite me to your farmers association or farmers day. Depending on your needs I can talk about different subjects and learn about farmers' cicumstances first-hand...
- I can learn from farmers first-hand which predators they have and which methods they use to prevent livestock depredation.
- Although I don't have the answers on the effectiveness and costs of all the methods yet, I can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of those methods which I do know.
- I can give traing on kill ID; how to identify the predator responsible for a kill. Determining who really was the guitly party is obviously one of the most important factors if we want workable solutions.
- I can give training on how to use CyberTracker to record your livestock losses, predator presence and predator costs.
For those farmers who are really interested in this research and would like to be part of the continuing process of finding solutions to predation problems, there is also a monthly Excel spreadsheet available. If you have good book-keeping of your "predator" expenses and losses and are willing to share this information on a monthly basis (we will still handle the data confidentially), you can also download this document and the agreement (in Afrikaans). The CyberTracker application can also be used to collect the same data.
If your farmers association of you as individual would like to contribute financially to the project, have a look at what the current need of the project are and with which ones you can help.
Aims & Objectives![chavoux [by] gmail [punt] com](./epos1.png)
