Putting decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong

John Hume, “The Man Who Bred 1000 Rhino”. Photo used courtesy of Quintus Strauss

In the past 26 years, South African John Hume, aged 76, has bred 1,279 white rhinos on his private property, and is currently protecting 1,626 rhinos of which 300 are pregnant therefore making it 1,926 lives of rhino in total. He has been remarkably successful and has lost just 32 rhinos to poachers, compared with 7,048 rhinos poached in the whole of South Africa since the Moratorium on Domestic Trade in Rhino Horn, up to and including 2017 (see "Background" heading later in the article). In the 4 years before the imposition of the Moratorium on the 13th of February 2009, there was virtually no poaching. This is an outstanding contribution to the long-term security of the species, for which he deserves an enormous vote of thanks and appreciation from the international conservation community.

This remarkable success could not have been achieved without an unprecedented level of financial support, all of which has come from John’s life savings. Protecting rhinos in today’s world from the increasing attacks by poaching gangs is an extremely expensive operation, as all the government conservation agencies in Africa know only too well. In addition, the recent severe periods of drought in South Africa have necessitated supplementary feeding, which John has also had to do at a total cost for field protection, feeding, veterinary expenses, etc., of at least R5 million per month (US$ 400,000 @ R12.50 = $1), amounting to an annual expenditure of R60 million (US$4,8 million).

Baby rhino number 1,000. Photo used courtesy of Quintus Strauss

 He has now reached the point where he can no longer continue as his life-savings will be completely exhausted in August of this year. He is in urgent need of substantial financial support, as are other private land-owners, who together are responsible for approximately 7,000 rhinos (according to Pelham Jones, the Chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association) more than the rest of Africa combined. An increasing number of these land-owners no longer want rhinos on their properties, because of these exorbitant costs and escalating security threats to their staff and families, and already the number of private rhino custodians has dropped from 400 in 2009 to only 320 today.

There is an option open to John Hume and others who have rhino on their properties, including government agencies, which should be discussed openly and objectively by conservations NGOs and all other organisations involved in rhino conservation, namely the advantages of a regular, sustainable and strictly controlled trade in rhino horn – horn that is sourced from healthy, live rhinos, with the income generated going back to those who have the responsibility of ensuring the long-term security of the species.

Background

As background, the international trade in rhino horn was banned in 1977 by the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It has been an unmitigated failure, and it has not saved the life of a single rhino, with no less than 23 out of 33 range states having lost all their rhino due to poaching. The ban has however spawned the growth of close to 400 NGOs raising and spending millions on campaigns and demonstrations to “save the rhino”, with yet more research and grants for projects that have made little or no difference to the security of the species.

There is a very strong case to be made for rejecting the ban and moving to a legal international trade. Since there has always been a demand for horn in South East Asian culture, why not accept this and endeavour to meet the demand rather than block it? Its only since trade was outlawed that rhino horn became globally recognized as the most valuable commodity, worth more than gold and cocaine, reaching up to $100,000 per kg on the black market.

Photo used courtesy of Quintus Strauss

A legal trade in rhino horn can help create a conservation incentive and generate substantial income for people like John Hume who desperately need financial support. At present, money from rhino horns collected in Africa go to the criminals and not the conservationists. South Africa can easily, and sustainably, satisfy current levels of demand (from stocks, natural deaths and private land-owners) without the need to kill one rhino. So few people know that horns removed from an immobilised and tranquilized rhino is painless, and there is no evidence that removal impacts on its social life and ability to survive. Horns then regrow, up to 1 kg / year, and this regular harvesting could be done up to eight times in the animal’s life.

In summary, these are the advantages of a strictly controlled legal trade.

✓ Rhino horn supplied without killing a single animal.

✓ By becoming active market participants, state reserves and private landowners with rhinos would be able to generate a substantial income from these animals, which are at present regarded as a massive financial burden.

✓ Rhino horn stockpiles held by conservation agencies and private landowners could be fed into the market, removing the high costs and security risks associated with maintaining them.

✓ A controlled legal trade should encourage other private landowners and local communities to obtain and maintain their own rhino populations, and to start breeding from them, thus increasing rhino numbers.

✓ If Far Eastern governments are invested in the legal trade, which they could be, they will close down the illegal trade.

✓ The simple message must be that with the sustainable use approach we will end up with many more rhinos AND economic opportunities for local communities.

✓ By imposing Western standards of strict preservation, we will end up with far fewer rhinos, crippling costs, aid dependence and significant habitat loss too.

✓ We need to ensure that every option possible is available to unlock the value of wildlife in rural areas.

Due to the moratorium on legal trade in rhino horn, John Hume has been deprived of an income since the ban was introduced, while bearing all the costs and expenses to keep rhinos safe from poachers, having no assistance or aid from government or numerous wildlife NGOs.

After failing to persuade the government to drop the moratorium which has only outlawed a regulated trade and created the monopoly for illegal traders, John Hume took the government to court to drop the moratorium. The battle took over four years until the case for rhinos was won in November 2015. The court ordered the government to lift the moratorium, automatically bringing back a strictly regulated domestic legal trade in harvested rhino horn, where a rhino stays alive and its horns grow back. However, the South African government went on appealing for 18 months and lost all three appeals. On 5 April 2017 the Constitutional Court restored a regulated domestic trade in rhino horn in South Africa, but since then the government has effectively blocked any local sales, with a plethora of new rules and regulations which makes it virtually impossible for those who want to sell rhino horns to generate any income.

Photo used courtesy of Quintus Strauss

 In 1997, South Africa put the proposal to CITES for dropping the international prohibition on trade in rhino horn and regulate global trade by legal sales. South Africa lost this proposal by just one vote. In 2016, Swaziland also put the proposal to CITES for dropping the international prohibition on trade in rhino horn and allowing legal trade. When the vote on this took place, 100 countries voted against the legalization, 26 supported the proposal, and 17 abstained. The fact that amongst countries that supported Swaziland’s proposal were the majority of global rhino population custodians, namely South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe with 23,876 rhinos out of 28,066 total world’s rhino population, was outlooked by CITES Secretariat.

As Thomas Sowell, an American economist and political commentator said: “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” Also, by paraphrasing Thomas Sowell, we cannot ignore the fact that while prohibition sounds great and it has always sounded great, it is only when we go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that prohibition turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.

Interim measures

John Hume, “The Man Who Bred 1000 Rhino”, has reached the end of his financial wherewithal to continue self-funding his breeding and protection project. He has sadly had to give notice to the private army who currently protect his rhino. Without urgent alternative security solutions, his rhino will be left to the mercy of poachers, which will result in an inevitable blood bath.

Two measures with which people can help the cause are:

1. Rhino Coin (cryptocurrency) – this is an innovative new CryptoConservation initiative which has issued 1 Rhino Coin for each 1g of physical horn held in a vault in South Africa. Any purchase of Rhino Coin through the CornuEx.com exchange, directly benefits John Hume’s rhinos. The Rhino Coin is also tradable against Bitcoin and Ethereum. Supporters can go to https://www.rhinocoin.com to understand the concept behind the coin and the Rhino Coin Foundation, and then to https://www.cornuex.com/ to trade in the coin.
2. Crowdfunding – John Hume also have a fundraising campaign running on Indiegogo, specifically to fund a new security solution, into which any concerned public can donate. Please help him keep his rhino well protected with a new state-of the-art electronic early-warning security system by donating to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-protect-rhinos-from-poachers-security-community/x/18812022#/

Conclusion

John Hume believes that captive breeding projects are vital to help save rhinos from extinction and that rhinos could pay their own survival with a legal trade in rhino horn. However, until we change the law that currently benefits criminals we need your help to keep John Hume’s project alive and help his mission to save rhinos for future generations.

Written by Dr John Hanks, a zoologist with a PhD from Cambridge on elephant population dynamics. He has 45 years’ experience in a wide variety of applied conservation management and research projects, working in several African countries. He was previously director of the Africa Program for WWF International (based in Switzerland).

Find the Agri Handbook's "Wildlife Ranching" chapter at www.agribook.co.za/index.php/book/livestock/wildlife-ranching

The committee meeting last week

The Parliamentary Monitoring Group reports on the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries meeting on 7 June 2018. It was briefed on the following matters:

• The response of the Department to the Committee’s Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR).
• Monitoring and verification of projects (CASP, Ilima-Letsima, Land Care and MAFISA) by DAFF in the provinces
• Climate Smart Strategic Framework
• Commercialisation of Black Producers

Of interest in the first topic is that the Draft Policy on Comprehensive Producer Development and Support (PCPDS) now includes the Integrated Funding Development Support Policy and National Policy on Mechanisation Support. There is also a look at where various legislation is at i.e. the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill, Aquaculture Development Bill, Perishable Products Export Control Bill and the Agricultural Produce Agencies Amendment Bill. Progress on the implementation of the Small-Scale Fisheries Policy is also given.


For the fourth topic, commercialisation is described as “a phenomenon where agriculture is governed by commercial consideration i.e. certain specialised crops are grown not for consumption in villages but for sale in national and even in the international market”.  Fifty producers per province have been identified. Preparing them includes training which includes record keeping and constructing business plans, and SA GAP certification.


Follow the discussions that the above engendered by clicking on the hyperlinks.

Find the relevant chapters in the Agri Handbook: Emerging farmer support, Finance for new farmers and SMMEs, Legal aid and legislation, Fisheries and the ocean economy, Aquaculture and Climate Change.

#FightIUUFishing

June 5 is the first International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU).

Picture used courtesy of Livescience.com

Some USD 23-billion worth of seafood is stolen from the sea each year, which amounts to one in every five fish sold (FAO, 2018). It poses a threat to the health of our oceans and the livelihoods and food security of those who depend on them. Read the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) notes on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing at http://www.fao.org/iuu-fishing/fight-iuu-fishing/en/

 IUU fishing is covered in the Agri Handbook chapter "Fisheries and the ocean economy" which can be found at http://www.agribook.co.za/index.php/book/issues/fisheries-and-the-ocean-economy

Strong growth trajectory for robust macadamia industry

Valley Macadamia Chairman, Alan Sutton, attended the macadamia round table session at the World Nut and Dried Fruit Conference in Spain. Sutton gave feedback on the INC’s annual report and discussed a number of pertinent facts and figures, as well as new marketing and advertising campaigns proposed for the year ahead.

Photo used courtesy Valley Macadamias

Key statistics discussed at the round table included the growth and global supply of macadamias. Sutton was delighted to report a strong growth trajectory for the robust macadamia industry. “The generic marketing that’s been undertaken by the INC is an example of our industry body hard at work to perform expansion of our product”, said Sutton.

The forecast for 2018 is estimated at 211 101 metric tons worldwide - the highest ever global supply. South Africa will be the biggest macadamia producer with 54 000 tons followed by Australia and Kenya. Production in China will be 19 000 tons in 2018 with a set growth of 10% per annum thereafter.

The world production is classified as 70% kernel exports and 30% nut in shell exports. The kernel and nut-in-shell combined make up 70% of all products sold as snack products and 30% sold as ingredients for bakers and confectioners.

“The increase in plantings on a global scale is set to continue and hopefully this will stabilise the supply for what is seemingly an insatiable demand for macadamias worldwide”, said Sutton. The Valley Macadamia group will rise to the challenge by expanding their capacities and market capabilities to cater for the exciting new trends.

Find the Macadamia Nuts and Tree Nuts chapters in the Agri Handbook.

New support policy for farmers?

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) is working on a new support policy for farmers. The National Policy on Comprehensive Producer Development Support (NPCPDS) was presented to the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries last week. Find the draft document at http://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/1/180508NPCPDS.pdf.

The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries grilled DAFF on the document. Find the meeting report at https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/26340/. The Department "was told to go and revise the policy document".


Watch this space!

Find the Agri Handbook "Emerging farmer support" chapter here.

#Nampo - making the acquaintance

Today the Nampo show grounds outside Bothaville will be buzzing with activity as the hundreds of exhibitors prepare for the largest agricultural show in the southern hemisphere this week.

Nampo Park from the air. Photo used courtesy of Grain SA

 

I first heard of Nampo as a younger man, whist paying a visit to my parents. In the course of conversation my father related what had transpired when he had attended the Nampo Harvest Day with a number of other farmers from the district. The events related had little to do with the show itself (if one discounts the effects of seeing too many virile, prize bulls, that is!), and more to do with the escapades on the return journey.

Years passed. I had successfully floated the idea of doing an agricultural publication to colleagues in the publishing company and began work on our budding database. I was doing some phoning and when told by yet another company that the person in charge of marketing was at Bothaville preparing for Nampo it became obvious that that was where we needed to go.

I headed out from Gauteng on the Potchefstroom road and, nervous of not finding accommodation closer to Bothaville, booked into a bed-and-breakfast at Stilfontein. My destination was an hour and half away, but I was taking no chances. After unloading some belongings, I took to the road again. 

Like a first time visitor, I feared the possibility of missing the turnoff to the show and slowed down once I had crossed into the Free State province. If I reached Bothaville, I’d worked out, I would have gone too far. I need not have worried! Big air balloons featuring the logos of different companies were visible kilometres away. It was midday so that year I never experienced the morning traffic jams that stretch for some ten-fifteen kilometres, a phenomena in this rural area that is hard to believe unless you’ve attended the show itself.

Photo used courtesy of Farmer's Weekly

The many livestock greet you if you enter via the north gate, as I did that year. I walked through all the familiar farm smells of my youth, viewing the many cattle breeds. Sheep, pigs, goats and horses also enjoy a healthy presence here. It was an hour and a half later when I reached the first big hall and purchased something to eat and a bottle of mineral water. 

As I rested in the small area of shade outside, I viewed a forgotten world. My spirits were low, and this only partly from a feeling of being dehydrated. I estimated that I had covered barely a fifth of the terrain, and already had hundreds of pamphlets, publications and business cards in my satchel. I felt daunted by the size of what I was looking at and the task that lay ahead of building the planned publication. (Other "directories" that we'd been shown consisted of about four articles and some thirty pages of adverts. If you didn't advertise, you did not exist. Hardly something that a farmer would read, and not very helpful to anyone else. We had something else in mind).

The years that followed would see a small team print the National Agricultural Directory and its translation, the Nasionale Landbougids, and establish a presence at the annual show, first in the Department of Agriculture tent (our anchor partner) and then in a stand of our own. 

Our stall before 7h00 when the first of the day's visitors arrive

We did out fifth edition of the book, now called the Agri Handbook, and exhibited it for two years, 2013 and 2014. (That edition can be downloaded free under “Shop” and “The fifth edition” at http://www.agribook.co.za).

Our business model changed. Rather than the printed, nearly 700 page publication (an expensive affair!) we are moving the resource across to being a website with downloadable PDFs of the 14 volumes that together make up the book. The PDFs are printable. Hardcopies will soon be available, either from a limited print run or as print-on-demand.

Nampo 2019 should see us back again, and we look forward to reconnecting to friends and acquaintances, some of whom we have not seen for many months now. Until then, there is still plenty to do!

Find information on Nampo at http://www.grainsa.co.za/pages/nampo.

The "Agricultural shows and events" chapter of the Agri Handbook can be viewed here.

Do you really know where your used oil lands up?

Press release

Farmers, as generators of used oil are required to make sure that licensed used oil collectors remove this hazardous waste and take it to a licensed processor for responsible recycling. However, after collection, the used oil is often sold by the collector to the highest bidder, who may be an unlicensed processor, or end user.

Legally, the responsibility lies with the generator to ensure that the person who collects used oil is licensed, audited and can provide the legally required Safe Disposal Certificate and Hazardous Waste Manifest, and failure to do so can result in fines and prosecution of the generators and collectors.

Used oil still being used illegally

Bubele Nyiba, CEO of the ROSE Foundation (Recycling Oil Saves the Environment) says besides oil ending up in landfills or down drains, an ongoing problem is that some used oil generators sell their oil to “end-users” who use it for harmful practices such as burner fuel for furnaces, painting vineyard poles and fence poles as a wood preservative, or spraying of dirt roads as a dust suppressant.

“Illegal practices such as those highlighted above allow used oil to make its way into the environment. Used lubricant oil contains harmful compounds and carcinogens and one litre of used oil can contaminate one million litres of water – a fact which led it to be classified as a hazardous waste. Burning used oil before it has been recycled releases heavy metals and other harmful compounds into the atmosphere.”

Waste products being treated as a commodity

“In South Africa we have a system in place whereby the used oil collectors purchase the used oil from the generators. This model – which was pro-actively adopted many years before legislation governing the responsible recycling of waste, and the pricing of waste, was introduced - has been successful as it has given value to used oil as a waste, thereby incentivising its responsible collection. However, we now see a situation where used oil generators in South Africa are regarding their used oil as an income generating product and this has driven the price of this waste up to unsustainable levels,” says Nyiba.

It is interesting to note is that best practice in other developed countries sees used oil generators paying collectors to take away their waste, as opposed to the current South African model which is the other way around.

“Used oil generators in South Africa often sell their oil to whoever offers the highest price, regardless of the qualifications of that person. All too often we are seeing fly-by-night used oil collectors entering the industry who offer higher prices for the oil but do not take it to a registered processor for recycling - and so also cannot offer the used oil generator a Safe Disposal Certificate or a Hazardous Waste Manifest – both of which are required by law. Failure to be able to produce either of these documents if asked can result in stern penalties and even prosecution.”

“A trick that generators should also be aware of is that unscrupulous collectors will offer more per litre but will then under-declare the volumes collected (effectively stealing the oil) – thereby paying the same total that a licensed collector would have.”

Nyiba urges used oil generators to use ROSE licensed used oil collectors and processors who will come and remove the oil and take it to be recycled in an environmentally compliant and safe manner.

“Registered collectors are compelled to issue you with a safe disposal certificate,” says Nyiba.

“The safe disposal certificate issued by ROSE registered collectors also acts as a Hazardous Waste Manifest, thereby fulfilling the requirements of reporting by law.”

The Hazardous Waste Manifest explained
As used oil is a hazardous waste, generators are required to maintain the below information on a Hazardous Waste Manifest, a document that will track the used oil from cradle to grave and offer a clear snapshot on how it has been managed:

• A unique consignment identification number;
• The generator’s contact details, including the contact person, physical and postal address, phone and fax number and email address;
• The physical address of the site where the waste was generated;
• An emergency contact number;
• The origin/source of the waste (how it was generated);
• A description of the waste (waste classification and waste category)
• The physical nature / consistency of the waste (liquid, solid, sludge; pump-able, non-pump-able);
• The quantity of waste;
• Packaging (bulk, small containers, tank);
• Transport type (tanker, truck, container);
• Special handling instructions;
• The date of collection / dispatch;
• The intended receiver (waste manager).

ROSE registered collectors and processors are also compliant with all waste transportation legislation and are strictly managed and audited – further ensuring your compliance as a waste generator.

“As the source of a hazardous waste which is governed by laws and carries repercussions, used oil generators must take responsibility for what happens with their oil and must ensure it is taken away by a licensed collector to a licensed facility – and must also insist on the paper work to verify this. Don’t leave yourself open to possible fines or prosecution should you not be able to produce the proper paper trail,” concludes Nyiba.

For more information and to find out about a registered used oil collector contact the ROSE Foundation on (021) 448 7492 or visit www.rosefoundation.org.za. 

Read the "Waste management" chapter in the Agri Handbook here.