Price Elasticity of Bushmeat Demand in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem: Insights for Managing the Bushmeat Trade

Abstract

Rural households across the tropics rely on bushmeat hunting to fulfill their subsistence and cash income needs. As human populations grow, and urban market demand drives commercial trade, hunting is often unsustainable, compromising community long-term food security and wildlife conservation objectives. Scarce information about the effectiveness of different intervention options hampers design of informed management strategies to reduce bushmeat hunting while simultaneously safeguarding community's food security. Here we examine the potential of interventions aimed at reducing bushmeat demand by evaluating the own-and cross-price elasticities, i.e., how consumers respond to changes in the price of bushmeat and the price of five substitutes-beef, chicken, lamb, goat, and fish. We conducted stated preference surveys, complemented by a socioeconomic survey using the Poverty Environment Network protocol in 452 households in 21 villages in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem in Tanzania. Using random intercept Poisson regression models, we find significant and elastic negative own-price elasticities of bushmeat demand and significant positive cross-price elasticities except for goat and fish. The significant (all at the 0.01 level) own-price elasticities ranges from −1.099 when bushmeat is paired with beef to −0.718 when bushmeat is paired with fish while the significant cross-price elasticities ranges from 0.128 when bushmeat is paired with beef to 0.590 when bushmeat is paired with lamb suggesting that most cross-price relations were inelastic. Variation between districts was considerable and depended on substitutes included in the model. Estimated elasticities were modified by socioeconomic covariates including ethnicity, household size, household income, household Tropical Livestock Units ownership, household land ownership and distance to nearest protected area boundary, Lake Victoria and nearest road. Overall, we find mixed support for the hypothesis that interventions increasing the price of bushmeat and decreasing that of its substitutes will reduce bushmeat demand. The effectiveness of demand reducing interventions should increase if complemented by other policy interventions, e.g., interventions that increase the opportunity cost of hunting, by providing alternative income generation opportunities for hunters.

China’s online parrot trade: Generation length and body mass determine sales volume via price

“…The effect of price on sales volume we observed supports the law of demand 205 (Walelign et al, 2019): more expensive parrots were traded less. Interestingly, 206 however, consumer sales patterns had Relatively Inelastic Demand (Walelign et al,207 2019), and, contrary to expectations, sales volumes did not decrease linearly in 208 proportion to price increase -rather the market sustained higher prices in relation to 209 trade volume [1:-0.758].…”

“…For example, the price of pangolin products is 45 increasing, seemingly due to desirability driving ever-greater consumer demand in 46 China and Vietnam, with supply restricted by regulation and risk of prosecution 47 (Challender et al, 2015). Consumer sensitivity to price (price elasticity of demand, 48 PED) is quantified as the relative percentage change in quantities purchased in 49 response to a one percent change in price (Walelign et al, 2019). PED further divides 50 into Perfectly Elastic Demand (∞), Perfectly Inelastic Demand (0), Relatively Elastic 51 Demand (> 1), Relatively Inelastic Demand (< 1), and Unitary Elasticity Demand (= 52 1).…”

The Importance of Bushmeat in Household Income as a Function of Distance from Protected Areas in the Western Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania

“…Until then increasing the number of alternative livelihood opportunities for older male-headed households in villages close to the PA boundary may reduce reliance on bushmeat income and hence the combined hunting pressure on wildlife populations in the GSE. Increasing the availability and reducing the price of alternative meat types can also help to reduce bushmeat demand and consumption in the area (Walelign et al, 2019). This can be done by promoting the production of alternative meat protein food such as fish and chicken through the establishment of fish farms and poultry projects in villages close to protected areas.…”

Roads and livelihood activity choices in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania

“…However, the number of jobs required is substantial [62] as also indicated by our results (1≈2.5 hunting vs employed household members). On the demand side, evidence indicates that bushmeat consumption decline if the price increase relative to its substitutes suggesting that if enforcement can sufficiently increase the cost of supplying and hence the price of bushmeat, then demand will decrease [63,79,80]. However, [79] also found positive wealth elasticity of bushmeat consumption indicating that demand will increase with efforts to increase welfare and household income across the GSE.…”