TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

336 IMPROVEMENT OF TROPIOAL AND SUBTROPIOAL RANGELANDS
TABLE 100a GraM Retuma from WUdllfe, 1~1-1814
Avenp
Total
Care... Sale Number Income
Vear Price/kc Price/It, ICc Sold of Borna· (K/lh)"
1981 25 U 10,SSO 580 816,000
1082 26 8.6 24,045 527 810,000
1983 al 14.1 26,661 562 1,022,000
1984 a5 sa.5 a5,010 727 1,527,085
•An ...umed price of 200 K/lh per animal II UMd for hid.. and horna•
••An approximate conval'lion throueh the period would be U = 10 K/lh
Note: The income recorded above wu that actually obtalned from the
wildlife ranchinl operatioDl, Ulini ...umed fiIurea only for hid.. and
horna. (Due to IOvemment reatrietioDl, th_ itelDl are yet to be IOld.)
sausages, and biltong or jerky. An average price of over 39 K/sh
(Kenya shillings) per kg gave a gross return of 1.37 million K/sh for
meat products. Table 10-3 shows gross returns from wildlife over the
four-year period.
How does the data relate and compare to traditional cattle ranching?
To answer this we will look at an economic survey commissioned
by Comell University specifically to establish the viability of cattle
ranching in the area of WRR. The average ranch size of the 10
ranches sampled was 9,193 hectares. Averages of all the physical and
economic measures and the technical coefficients of these ranches
were used to construct a budget representing the average commercial
cattle ranch in the district.
We will use this average scenario because it reflects actual production
and income figures for the area in the same way as our
wildlife data represents actual findings on WRR. Costs and prices
used are for the year 1980, yielding gross returns for the ranch of
919,200 K/sh. Cash expenditure was 830,054 K/sh, leaving a net
profit of 89,146 K/sh. Assuming sales averaging 6 K/sh per kg live
weight (the prevailing prices), and dressing out percentages of 50
percent, these figures translate into a production level of 8.33 kg per
hectare of carcass weight, yielding grou and net returns of 100.00
and 9.70 K/sh per hectare, respectively, for 1980. Assuming a 10
percent increase per year in both income and cost, grou and net
returns are shown for the succeeding four years in figure 10-1.
Figure 10-1 compares this grou and net income with WRR
income, a mixed wildlife and cattle operation. The wildlife data is