Sociocultural Factors Shaping Responses to Wildlife Crop-Raiding in Communities Adjacent to Protected Areas in Southern Tanzania

Increasing crop-raiding undermines efforts to improve community well-being and conserve biodiversity. There is still a considerable knowledge gap on how social drivers influence the occurrence of wildlife crop raids in smallholder farmlands. We conducted this study to investigate how farmers’ social and cultural factors influence attitudes toward crop-raiding in communities adjacent to MIKUMI and NYERERE National Parks in southern Tanzania. We (i) examined the variability of household demographic characteristics and their implications for crop-raiding and (ii) predicted heterogeneity in crop-raiding responses to farmers’ gender, age, and education. We applied stratified multistage random sampling to identify villages and a mixed-method approach to collect socioeconomic information from seven villages through a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Results showed that farmers’ age, gender, and education differed significantly ( p < 0.05) between the two study areas. Crop-raiding incidences were higher in MINAPA (median = 4) compared to NYENAPA (median = 3). No spatial autocorrelation of the recorded incidences was observed (Moran’s Test, I = −0.00425, p = 0.1425) across villages. The proportion of crop-raiding incidences, crop preference, and raiding animals varied across the study villages. We conclude that multi-scale approaches can unfold intrinsic information about crop-raiding processes. Our study provides scientific evidence to inform and influence the decision-making process among local farmers, extension workers, and policy on how to shape their management plan to mitigate crop-raiding around the protected area. We anticipate that correcting household social characteristics could promote community preparedness against crop-raiding risks, improve food security, and reduce human-wildlife conflicts.