BUTTERFLY FARMING IN ZANZIBAR

At the Zanzibar Butterfly Center, visitors get to experience the first moments of a butterfly's life,
while the Center provides an income for local farmers and incentives them to protect the tropical forest.

While traveling and volunteering, we often meet or hear about creative people doing innovative things to help alleviate poverty. Until a recent visit to the Zanzibar Butterfly Center, however, we had never imagined farming butterflies as an engine to support local economies.

Figo the butterfly farmer

But just ask Figo, one of the more than 30 villagers who raise caterpillars for the Center in the island's tropical forests. The young entrepreneur filled us in on the practice's viability.

"It gives us a reliable source of income," says Figo, who lives near the Center and became a butterfly farmer three years ago. "It also gives us a reason not to cut down the forests, which we used to use for charcoal."

Farmers like Figo can earn a steady income, selling their "crops" either locally to the Butterfly Center, which needs a constant supply, or for export to markets as far away as Europe. 

Depending on the species of butterfly the pupa will produce, farmers can earn anywhere from 25 cents to one dollar per pupa, also called a chrysalis. Since most butterflies live only 2-3 weeks, the work and resulting income is steady, as long as there is demand.

Liz peers into the raising cage, where mature pupae are glued to sticks. There, they will eventually emerge as butterflies, which you can witness during your visit to the Zanzibar Butterfly Center.

Founded six years ago by a Scottish ecologist, a Zanzibari forester and a Tanzanian conservationist, the Center received a United Nations SEED grant last year, recognizing it for sustainable development and environmental innovation. 

"Visitors can see and touch all stages of the life cycle, from egg to caterpillar to pupa to new-born butterfly," said co-founder and Scotsman, Benjamin Hayes. "It's one of the biggest butterfly facilities in Africa, and every visit helps us support the local farmers."

The glistening green chrysalis of the Gold-banded Forester is dotted with gold flakes.

If you get to Zanzibar, make sure you drop by the Center for a visit. Enjoy the surroundings, learn about the insects' life cycles, and best of all, try to stand still while watching a newborn butterfly take its first flight from the palm of your hand. 

Best of all, remember you're visit and dollars help support the livelihood of some of Africa's only butterfly farmers. 

ZBC founder Benjamin Hayes (left) and a volunteer show off a collection of pupae. 

An African Monarch, also called a Plain Tiger, rests on a leaf at the Zanzibar Butterfly Center.