07 Apr 2026

The five villages of Gumare, Tubu, Danega, Nokaneng and Habu will each receive P450,000 from the sale of the recently awarded nine-elephants quota.

Okavango District commissioner, Mr William Keareng made the announcement when addressing residents of Gumare during a recent kgotla meeting.

To this end, Mr Keareng has called on residents of the five villages to revive farmers’ committees and an umbrella farmers’ association so that they benefit from the agricultural hunting quota, which was designed to mitigate human-wildlife conflict challenges.

Also, Mr Keareng advised the communities to devise suitable projects that would reduce human-wildlife conflict and also benefit the communities economically.

In the past, he said, the quota was coordinated by community trusts, which were not aligned with the quota’s core purpose, which promoted farmers’ associations' close collaboration with farmers’ committees in each village to ensure proper coordination.

Meanwhile, Gumare residents welcomed the quota, saying it would benefit the communities while reducing human-wildlife conflict.

Some residents called for the establishment and electrification of a communal farm for growing fruits and vegetables and their value chains to supply supermarkets, which they said would promote agriculture while benefiting communities.

Others suggested drilling of boreholes in wildlife management areas to water elephants and maintenance of buffalo fences to curb human-wildlife conflict.

They also suggested that part of the funds should be channeled toward addressing challenges such as animal diseases in the area. ENDS