Impacts of a participatory action project: how reducing crop raiding has implications for health

ABSTRACT Human-wildlife interactions include wild animals foraging on agricultural crops, often called crop raiding. Crop raiding can result in disease transmission, poor nutrition, stress, and loss of income. Crop raiding also affects conservation because retaliatory events can result in wildlife being harmed. Around Kibale National Park, Uganda, a community action project implemented mitigation strategies that reduced crop raiding. We surveyed 95 of 106 (90%) project participant households to determine if participants perceived their health to have changed due to the project. We conducted open-ended, oral surveys during July and August 2018. Most participants said their overall health had improved (80%) and that their diet (83%), stress (82%), sleep (82%), and exposure to zoonotic diseases (64%) improved. Other benefits included income to pay medical bills and school fees. No participant reported negative effects. We found evidence that reducing crop raiding had positive implications for people’s health and income stability.