The consumption of wild meat in Madagascar: drivers, popularity and food security

Abstract

SUMMARYThe role of wild meat for subsistence or as a luxury good is debated. We investigated the role of wild meat in food security in Madagascar, where consumption is poorly understood in urban areas and at regional scales. Using semi-structured interviews (n = 1339 heads-of-households, 21 towns), we aimed to: (1) quantify the amount and purpose of, (2) understand the drivers of, and (3) examine changes in wild meat consumption. Few respondents preferred wild meat (8 ± 3%) but most had eaten it at least once in their lifetime (78 ± 7%). Consumption occurred across ethnic groups, in urban and rural settings. More food insecure areas reported higher rates of wild meat consumption in the 6–8 months prior to interviews. Consumption was best explained by individual preferences and taboos. Less than 1% of respondents had increased consumption during their lifetimes. Wild meat prices showed no change from 2005–2013. Most consumption involved wild pigs and smaller-sized animals, though they were consumed less in the years following the 2009 coup. These data illustrate the differences between urban and rural communities, the occasions in which wild meat is used a source of food security, and provide evidence that some taxa are not hunted sustainably in Madagascar.

Drivers of present and lifetime natural resource use in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

“…Economic opportunities include farming for rice and cash crops, ranching, ecotourism (near the main park entrance, eastern side of the park) (Gezon, ; Walsh, ), and the extraction of natural resources including the mining/sale of sapphires (near the north‐eastern section of the park, Walsh, ), harvest/sale of wood (Gudiel et al ., ), wild meat (Reuter et al ., ), and other NTFPs (medicinal plants, K. E. Reuter, pers. obs.).…”

“…Improved understanding of the drivers of natural resource use are needed in biodiversity‐rich areas, like Madagascar, that are experiencing rapid anthropogenic habitat change. In Madagascar, 90% of the population lives on <2 USD per day (World Bank, ) and natural resources wood (Innes, ), non‐timber forest products (NTFPs; Novy, ), mining (Walsh, ), and animals (Golden et al ., ) – are regularly extracted for personal use, cultural reasons, and economic gain (Reuter et al ., ,b). Extraction occurs legally and illegally, inside and outside protected areas (Reuter et al ., ,b), involving people of different ethnicities, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds (Walsh, ; Innes, ; Golden et al ., ).…”

Baby pangolins on my plate: possible lessons to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Borgerson et al [35] have shown that most children in the households of wildlife hunters were malnourished. Bushmeat was often the only accessible food for these families, and under these circumstances, it is no wonder that hunters are lured into commercial bushmeat chains that provision hotel and restaurants with lemur meat as a prestige food [36]. Another study in Madagascar has predicted that the rate of childhood anaemia would increase 29% if access to bushmeat, including bat and lemur meat, was restricted, predominantly affecting the poorest households that could not afford to purchase meat from domesticated animals [37].…”

What constitutes a useful measure of protected area effectiveness? A case study of management inputs and protected area impacts in Madagascar

“…Most of these studies have used PA management effectiveness (PAME) evaluations, as proxies for management input and quality which uses an ordinal scoring covering various aspects of PA management . Yet, the country struggles with high poverty levels and an unstable political environment, putting high pressures on the remaining forests, both through illegal high-value wood logging, shifting cultivation for subsistence farming, forest degradation due to charcoal production, overharvesting of vertebrates for bushmeat or trade and, more recently, escalating mining pressures (Allnutt, Asner, Golden, & Powell, 2013;Cabeza, Terraube, Burgas, Temba, & Rakoarijaoana, 2019;Reuter, Randell, Wills, & Sewall, 2016;Scales, 2014). We do this using a case-study of Madagascar's PAs, using avoided deforestation as a proxy for PA impact, and management data from PAME evaluations conducted by the National Parks authority.…”

“…For these reasons, Madagascar has become a recipient of significant biodiversity aid funding (Miller, Agrawal, & Roberts, 2013). Yet, the country struggles with high poverty levels and an unstable political environment, putting high pressures on the remaining forests, both through illegal high-value wood logging, shifting cultivation for subsistence farming, forest degradation due to charcoal production, overharvesting of vertebrates for bushmeat or trade and, more recently, escalating mining pressures (Allnutt, Asner, Golden, & Powell, 2013;Cabeza, Terraube, Burgas, Temba, & Rakoarijaoana, 2019;Reuter, Randell, Wills, & Sewall, 2016;Scales, 2014).…”