Zimbabwe Farmers Use Chili 'Bombs' to Deter Elephants

More than 36 people in the Mbire rural district have been killed by wild animals since 2015, while many others have lost livestock and crops.

Zimbabwean farmers are making chili “bombs” by mixing dung with oil and chili powder to keep elephants out of their fields. These "bombs" are hung around the field edges.

Farmers began to apply this method in response to the increased number of cases of wild animals maiming and killing people and livestock, as well as destroying crops. The smell of chili in homemade "bombs" repels the elephants.

“We try to live in harmony with our animals… We only use lethal methods where an animal has killed a human being or when it has injured a person. Otherwise, we try to scare away the animals using friendly methods which are not dangerous to both the scouts and the farmers around,” Mbire Rural District Council executive officer Mr. Tarcicius Mahuni said.

Speaking of the reasons for the frequent elephant attacks in Mbire, Mahuni noted that the area receives a constant influx of new animals due to migration.

"Mbire is in the middle of the protected area so we have inflows of animals coming from Zambia and Mozambique as well as our protected areas like the Dande Safari, Doma Safari and the Chehore Parks areas,” he elaborated.

Mahuni pointed out that Zimbabwean farmers got trained in chili cultivation and “bomb” making by representatives from the African Wildlife Foundation, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

After Botswana, Zimbabwe has the world's second-largest elephant population. In contrast to other countries where poachers have slaughtered these mammals for the ivory trade, Zimbabwe's elephant population is increasing at a rate of about 5% per year. Nonetheless, in 2021, 72 people were killed by elephants in Zimbabwe.