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

project has had with each government body. The government authorities are listed in
chronological order according to when they became involved in the project.
4.1 The Division of Forestry and Beekeeping
My initial research for the project was carried out in the Amani Nature Reserve and neighboring
forest reserves. The director of Forestry and Beekeeping approved this research after I was
awarded a COSTECH research permit. Originally, I intended to only conduct a feasibility study
as proposed in my US Fulbright funded research proposal. However, after 7 months of research
from November of 2001 to May of 2002, it became apparent that a butterfly farm in the Amani
area would likely be very successful, so I started inquire about the possibility of starting a
project.
At first, the local forest officials were concerned about the impact that such a project might have
on the Amani Nature Reserve, which is suppose to be a none extraction zone. They proposed that
the Nilo Forest Reserve would be a better location, since it did not have the same restrictions as
the Nature Reserve. Unfortunately, the Nilo Forest Reserve is quite remote and would not meet
the criteria of having reliable communication and transportation.
As a compromise, local forest officials from the Amani Nature Reserve and the East Usambara
Conservation Area Management Program agreed that as long as butterflies were not captured in
the Nature Reserve, the project could be started in other forest reserves and community forests
near Amani. Eventually, we settled on the villages of Kisiwani, Msasa/IBC, Shambangeda, and
Kwezitu.
This compromise was submitted to Director of Forestry and Beekeeping, who indicated that he
agreed with the proposal.
4.2 The District of Muheza
Next, I submitted a proposal to the District Executive Director of Muheza. After some revisions
to the proposal, he was very supportive of the idea of butterfly farming and arranged a
stakeholder meeting involving the relevant district officers and the local forest authorities from
the Amani Nature Reserve, the Longuza Forest Reserve, and the East Usamabara Mountains
Conservation Area Management Program.
The results of the meetings were very positive, with each stakeholder agreeing that the project
should go forward. The District Executive Director agreed to write a letter of introduction to the
four villages that would initially be invited to start the project.
Strong support has continued from the district, culminating with the award of 5,250,000 TSH
from Irish Aid via the District of Muheza for the purpose of building the project’s office in the
spring of 2003. The project has also received technical advice regarding the Amani Butterfly
Project Group’s constitution.
4.3 The Village Governments
The government authorities of villages involved in the project have all been very supportive. The
village chairmen proved integral in helping the project to arrange meetings and notify attendees
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