Butterfly Farming in the East Usambara Mountains - Eastern Arc ...

educe shock, but then generally it is preferable to place them in an area where will get
some sun.
• Germinating Seeds- The technique that has proved most successful for a wide range of
seeds is to prepare a seedbed. The seedbed should consist of the soil mix described
previously made into a slightly raised bed under clear plastic or some other protection
from hard rain. Seeds should be cleaned of as much fruit as possible. The easiest
technique is to peel off the skins and then mix the seeds with sandy mud and to scour
them a little by working this mix between hands. Then, rinse the seeds clean with water.
The project has found that seeds of all species should not be planted but rather pressed
slightly into the seedbed and then either covered with a very thin layer of forest soil or
forest leaf litter. Finally, the seedbed should be watered regularly, but creating mud
should be avoided.
• Fertilizer- The best fertilizer is fully composted cow manure. Adding a half-inch layer of
fertilizer to the tops of plastic tubes on a monthly basis or as needed for smaller seedlings
can greatly increase the growth rate of host plants.
• Watering- Watering is crucial during dry weather, but can easily be overdone. It is
important to check the soil by sticking a finger an inch or so into the soil. If the soil is
damp at the bottom of the inch, watering is probably not necessary. Rolling the ends of
plastic tubes makes watering easier. Also it is important to be careful of small seedlings
when watering as they can be buried or knocked over.
2.2 Quantities Required
• Vines – Vines tend to regenerate and grow much faster than seedlings. A vine of a couple
of feet in length with plenty of green growth can support one larva every two months
• Herbs – Herbs like Justicia can often be found in great numbers. Transplanting is so easy
that it is not necessary to plant large amounts of herbs in advance of farming many
larvae. Though herbs tend to recover quickly, it is often easier to simple plant more than
to wait for eaten plants to recover.
• Seedlings – The majority of host plants that are needed to farm butterflies in Amani are
seedlings of small and large trees. The food requirements can be very large since most
seedlings require three months to fully recover from being eaten by larvae. As long as the
seedlings has substantial green growth, one seedling of 1.5 – 2 feet is enough to feed one
larva of species like Papilio ophidicephalus, or two larvae for smaller species like Papilio
echerioides.
To understand what these numbers mean in terms of the average butterfly-farming group in
Amani, it is necessary to make some rough calculations. For instance, in 2004, the average
butterfly-farming group can expect to sell about 2250 pupae. This consists of about 1700 pupae
for the live exhibit market and about 550 pupae for the dead stock market. The live exhibit
market is concentrated in 8 months from the beginning of March until the end of October. The
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