What’s tiny and red, and sends elephants running into the Africa bush?
Chili peppers. And that’s not a joke.
The two inch-long chili pepper may look innocent but its fiery flavor is an elephant’s worse nightmare. Because of its tail-spinning effects on elephants, chili peppers have become a thriving crop in African farms. But what’s the purpose of sending elephants running away?
They eat farmer’s crops, which the people don’t take too kindly to.
As human / wildlife conflict remains high throughout the various villages and communities of Africa, conservation models are looking for new solutions to help decrease this palpable tension between farmers and local animals. And humans and elephants are one such deadly combination that has been negatively decreasing the population of animals.
When people settle near elephant habitats and begin to grow crops, elephants find this food supply to be an irresistible source for nutrition. And as you can imagine, elephants tend to eat a lot. Because of the elephant’s natural urge to eat, they continue stripping farmers of their crops, and in turn, famers kill elephants that make the fatal mistake of entering their territory. Now, because farmers have taken away much of the elephant’s natural resources for their farmland and farmers have killed elephants that dare raid their farms, many local elephant populations have become extinct.
In order to restore many of the deceased elephant populations throughout various countries in Africa, The Elephant Pepper Development Trust (EPDT), a Fair Trade certified organization, was born. Since its beginnings, the EPDT has implemented education programs for local communities that teach them about the delicate elephant habitats and what they need to survive, as well as effective ways to coexist with the elephants.
In order for local communities to benefit from chili pepper production, they must have available financial and farming technology. And even then, the human / elephant conflict cannot be completely demolished.
Below are some other efforts The Elephant Pepper Development Trust is putting forth to ensure long-lasting solutions:
- Research human settling patterns to discover long-term solutions for elephants and humans to coexist in the same region.
- Create irritating, yet harmless solutions to deter elephants from eating crops. The chili peppers are perfect for preventing elephants from eating crops as they absolutely hate the taste of them. This solution is ideal because it doesn’t harm or kill elephants.
- Build preventative barriers between farms and elephant habitats. One such effective solution is to build fences around the farm and hang chili-rubbed cow bells across them as an alarm. Another strategy to prevent elephants from entering farmland is to burn bundles of chili around the fields.
- Educate farmers on ways to develop and identify markets for chilies.
- Train farmers, managers, and communities on how to effectively and safely address human / elephant conflict problems.
To learn more about how you can lend a hand to The Elephant Pepper Development Trust, visit their website at http://www.elephantpepper.org/how.html.
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