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Wildlife production in the Western Cape
The Western Cape wildlife industry experienced rapid growth in the past ten years. At this stage at least 115 wildlife production units is known to occur in the Western Cape, covering 522 282 hectares of land. The area of wildlife production units inside the boundaries of the Western Cape Province extend over 4.36 % of the total area of agricultural land in the Province.
These wildlife production units, which are evenly distributed throughout the Province, do not necessarily focus on wildlife production alone. Some combine wildlife production with commercial livestock or other agricultural practices. Given the high diversity of wildlife, i.e. at least 37 different species, ecotourism, hunting and live sales are the most prominent ways of utilising and profiting from wildlife. Ecotourism is seen as the greatest opportunity for the Western Cape wildlife industry. Hunting is a great opportunity in selected regions of the Province. According to wildlife producers, the greatest threat to the Western Cape wildlife industry is the current overregulation of the industry, which necessitates urgent attention from all role players. This industry proves to be a positive contributor to job creation as a total of 929 jobs can be attributed to wildlife production on these wildlife production units.
Problems encountered with this project included the lack on information regarding the location of wildlife production units in the Western Cape and the unwillingness of wildlife producers to participate in the research due to the sensitive nature of this industry. This project, “The quantification and qualification of wildlife production units in the Western Cape”, contributes to a better understanding of the status and dynamics within a rapidly growing wildlife industry in the Western Cape and provides the basis for further in-depth research at various levels.
Further research from the Agricultural Economics programme on this topic will focus on some economic aspects regarding wildlife production in the Western Cape: “An economic evaluation of different wildlife production systems in the Western Cape”. People working on the project are Sanet Briel, Riaan Nowers and Mike Wallace.
