Uganda insect collectors

Title: Uganda: Getting Out of Rural Poverty By Exporting Rare Insects

Authors: N.A.

Source: International CustomWire; 02/06/2004

Accession Number: CX2004037U3824

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Uganda: Getting Out of Rural Poverty By Exporting Rare Insects

Kampala, Feb 06, 2004 (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks/AllAfrica

Global Media via COMTEX) -- For many people in Uganda, an impoverished,war-torn

country, escaping the harsh conditions of rural poverty is a daunting task. But

a young Ugandan seeking to do just that recently stumbled upon a dream

money-spinner: he collects rare insects from the country's lush tropical

forests, pickles them and exports them to wealthy private collectors.

Foraging in the dense jungles for anything from stag beetles to

centipedes and

butterflies, John Asiimwe, 25, said his buyers lived in such diverse

places as

the United States, Spain, the Czech Republic, China and Japan. They

include

entomologists researching rare species, as well as gift shops selling

insects on

mounted frames as collectors' items.

TRADE RESTRICTIONS

Trade in rare insects is restricted under the Convention on

International Trade

on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which Uganda

signatory. CITES is a voluntary international agreement between

governments.

Currently 164 governments are members.

The convention aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of

wild

animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Roughly 5,000

species of

animals and 28,000 species of plants are protected by CITES against

over-exploitation through international trade.

Barbara Musoke, the spokeswoman of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA),

told

IRIN that no concessions had been issued by her government for trade in

insects.

"Most of the highly desired insects are endangered. We cannot even

consider

dealing in them," Musoke said.

Conservation experts, however, said significant numbers of insects and

other

species were regularly exported from Uganda without being monitored. The

trade

in rare insects, for example, needed to be closely monitored in order to

avert

the depletion of naturally occurring species, thereby upsetting the

ecosystem,

they warned.

UGANDA LACKS MONITORING CAPACITY

"Uganda's insects are exported both live and dead. Most exporters do not

breed

them, but rather catch them from the wild, especially the bright, big,

beautiful

insects like Goliath beetles, which sell for up to US $100," Dino

Martins, the

chairman of he Insect Committee of Nature Kenya, told IRIN. "Because

Uganda is a

signatory to CITES, it is bound by conventions against uncontrolled

trade in

species. At the moment, it lacks the capacity to monitor such trade in

the

country," Martins said. "It needs to encourage potential exporters to

breed

them, then license the trade."

Musoke said the UWA had tended to focus on the bigger animals, rather

than the

small species, because there was a sense that the former were more

endangered.

"We tended to focus on the bigger animals, like crocodiles, but there

are

researchers who are studying insects in various parks at the moment,"

she added.

She noted in this context that the UWA was aware of a graduate student

Uganda's Makerere University who had collected a large number of insects

and

sold them on the export market. "We are handling the matter" she said.

Three years ago, Asiimwe knew almost nothing about Uganda's insect life.

Now, he

fancies himself to be quite an expert, rolling the polysyllabic Latin

names of

the various species off his tongue and talking in detail about insect

habitats

and mating seasons. "When I started, I just needed money," he said. "My

family

is from a very poor village and I had been out of work for almost two

years."

His starting point had been when he had stumbled upon an old man from

his

village, Aziz Matovu, who was preserving dead beetles in waragi (also

known as

Nubian gin). Thinking at first that this might be "some kind of

witchcraft", he

had asked the old man what he was doing.

GLOBAL MARKET

Matovu, Asiimwe said, had told him all about the global market for

insects that

he had discovered after a chance meeting with a Japanese buyer in the

capital,

Kampala. He had even given Asiimwe some contacts, since he was having

problems

keeping up with demand.

The prices of the insects vary, depending on who wants them for what. A

spider

was never more than $3, "not worth the trouble, because they're

poisonous and I

fear them", said Asiimwe; however, a butterfly could fetch up to $20; a

stag

beetle up to $30. One of Uganda's most sought after rare beetle, the

Mecynorrhina ugandesis, if well preserved and in good condition, fetches

$100.

"The price of an insect is determined by the quality, the size and the

rareness

of the insect. Uganda's insects are valuable, because they're so rare

and have

so many collectors. Like everything else, if the demand is higher than

supply,

the price will be higher," Steve Le, a commercial entomologist for the

New

York-based Eastern Pearl Home Furnishings and Asiimwe's most important

client,

told IRIN.

Le said catchers like Asiimwe were trained by being sent pictures of the

species

in demand and told where to find them, in what season and which time of

the day

was best.

"The Americans always pay the most. In a good afternoon, I could put

together a

package for between $300 and $400. The weirdest request I had was from a

Chinese

man wanting to pay $150 for a gramme of African bees venom," Asiimwe

said. With

the proceeds, he has been able, amongst other things, to move his

parents out of

their thatched mud hut and into a brand new, three-bedroom brick house.

DANGERS OF UNSUSTAINABLE HARVESTING

Commenting in this context, Gordon Boy, the editor of Swara, the

magazine of the

East African Wild Life Society, told IRIN that "the unsustainable

harvesting of

insects for export may, in some cases, rob certain areas of essential

pollinators. This in turn could affect the propagation of many plant

species,

including even that of some food crops. Falling crop yields, brought

about in

this way, might trigger needless food shortages and suffering among

human

communities."

He also noted that "other insect species, as decomposers of organic

matter, play

a crucial role in soil enrichment, so helping to maintain the fertility

farmland. Their elimination, too, can adversely affect food production.

Moreover, many insects have surprisingly long life-cycles, meaning that

their

reproductive success can very easily be compromised by unsustainable

collection,

resulting in elimination."

FARMING PROJECT

Asiimwe said he had a permit to collect the insects. In order to get it,

he had

started up a local research and conservation group, which he called

Nature

Africa, and asserted that he was now "a dedicated conservationist".

Asiimwe and Le said they were examining the feasibility of establishing

insect-breeding farm to enable them to increase exports of central

Africa's more

valuable species in a sustainable manner. Last October, another Ugandan,

Olipioana Oba, launched the country's first-ever butterfly farm, which

now

exports live pupa (at around $2 per pupa) to the UK, the US and The

Netherlands.

Similar farms exist in Kenya, like the Kipepewo project on the coast.

The World Conservation Union estimates that the annual international

wildlife

trade is worth billions of dollars. The trade is diverse, ranging from

live

animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from

them. But

the Union warns that levels of exploitation of some animal and plant

species are

high, and trade in them, together with other factors, such as habitat

loss, is

capable of heavily depleting their populations and even bringing some

species

close to extinction.

All Africa

Global Media(AllAfrica.com)

-0-

KEYWORD: Uganda

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Source: International CustomWire, Feb 06, 2004

Item: CX2004037U3824