We examined the effects of crop raiding by wild animals on household food security of the people in two sub counties adjacent to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Western Uganda. Data were collected from 541 households using a questionnaire and focus group discussions in a controlled and blocked household survey in Kichwamba and Nyakiyumbu sub counties in the Districts of Bushenyi and Kasese, respectively. Food security was examined by using dietary diversity indices. Crop raiding dominated by elephants resulted in 14% annual reduction in household food security of parkadjacent communities. It is recommended that a crop raiding mitigation fund be established to maintain elephant trenches and building capacity for local people to manage crop raiding and a multidisciplinary agriculture extension be started in the area to increase agricultural production and household incomes in order to prevent heavy dependency on protected area resources.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.