How Tembo Pilipili is helping farming communities protect their crops, strengthen livelihoods, and create a safer future for people and elephants in Tanzania
Human-elephant conflict remains one of the most difficult conservation challenges facing communities living close to protected areas in Tanzania.
For farmers, an elephant entering a field can destroy months of hard work in a single night. Crops such as maize and rice can be damaged or completely lost, affecting household food security and income. At the same time, elephants face increasing pressure when their movement brings them into contact with people.
This is where Tembo Pilipili Program is working to create a different path: one where communities can protect their farms without harming elephants.
A Simple Idea with a Powerful Purpose
Tembo Pilipili, meaning “Elephant-Chili,” was introduced in Tanzania in 2021 to help communities living alongside wildlife reduce human-elephant conflict through practical, affordable and humane solutions. The program began around the Selous landscape and has since supported communities across important elephant landscapes including Mikumi, Tarangire, Ruaha, Serengeti/Bariadi, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro.
The central idea is simple.
Use what communities can grow and access locally to help keep elephants away from crops.
Elephants have a highly sensitive sense of smell, and chili can be used as part of deterrent systems around farms. Instead of waiting for elephants to enter a field and then trying to chase them away, farmers can take preventive action by creating barriers around their crops.
From Conflict to Coexistence
For many communities living near wildlife areas, the relationship with elephants has not always been easy.
Crop losses can create frustration and fear. In some places, farmers have historically relied on shouting, flashing lights, fires or other methods when elephants approach their farms. These approaches may not always provide reliable protection.
Tembo Pilipili introduces farmers to alternative methods that are designed to discourage elephants while reducing the risk of injury to both people and wildlife.
The program has trained thousands of farmers in the use of chili-based mitigation techniques and supported community groups to organize conservation activities and economic opportunities. A recent report on the program highlighted more than 11,000 farmers who have benefited through training and related livelihood opportunities.
How the Chili Fence Works
One of the key approaches promoted by Tembo Pilipili is the chili fence.
Farmers prepare chili-based material and use it along boundaries around their fields. The strong smell acts as a deterrent, encouraging elephants to avoid the protected area.
The method has several advantages:
- It is relatively affordable.
- Materials can be sourced locally.
- Farmers can grow chili themselves.
- It does not require harming elephants.
- Chili can provide an additional source of income.
- Community members can maintain the system themselves.
Tembo Pilipili also promotes chili briquettes or bricks as another deterrent method. Chili-based materials can be used to create smoke that helps discourage elephants from approaching farms.
The program’s own experience has shown that chili fences have helped prevent crop losses across its project sites.
Chili Can Be More Than a Conservation Tool
One of the most important aspects of the Tembo Pilipili model is that chili is not only viewed as a wildlife deterrent.
It can also become an economic opportunity.
Farmers can cultivate chili as a crop, use part of their harvest for conservation, and sell surplus production.
This creates an important connection:
Chili farming → crop protection → reduced losses → additional income → stronger household resilience
In this way, conservation becomes connected to the everyday economic needs of rural communities.
A farmer does not have to choose between protecting wildlife and protecting their livelihood.
The two goals can support each other.
Building Stronger Community Organizations
Tembo Pilipili’s approach goes beyond individual farms.
Farmers are encouraged to work through community groups and cooperatives that can organize conservation activities, share knowledge and access financial opportunities.
According to the recent Mongabay report, the program has helped organize farmers into 168 groups, while related financing has provided access to affordable loans for productive activities.
This community-based structure is important because human-elephant conflict is not an individual problem.
When elephants move through a landscape, they can affect many farms and households. Collective action therefore makes it easier for communities to coordinate prevention, share experience and strengthen local conservation efforts.
Protecting Wildlife While Protecting Farmers
The ultimate goal is not simply to keep elephants out of farms.
It is to create conditions where people and elephants can coexist.
When farmers are able to protect their crops, the economic pressure associated with elephant damage can decrease. When communities have practical alternatives to retaliation, elephants can be protected from unnecessary harm.
This creates a positive cycle:
Protected crops
↓
Stronger household livelihoods
↓
Reduced frustration and conflict
↓
Greater tolerance for wildlife
↓
Better protection for elephants
That is at the heart of the Tembo Pilipili model.
Expanding the Model Across Tanzania
Tembo Pilipili currently works with communities around several important wildlife landscapes in Tanzania.
Its work includes areas around:
- Mikumi National Park
- Tarangire
- Ruaha
- Lake Manyara
- Serengeti/Bariadi
- Nyerere/Selous
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The program has also established a six-acre experimental chili farm in the Mikumi landscape that serves as a field training site. Farmers can learn about chili production, chili-based elephant deterrents, processing, and marketing.
This type of practical training is essential because successful conservation solutions need to work in real communities and real farming conditions.
Combining Conservation with Livelihood Development
The Tembo Pilipili model is increasingly built around a broader idea: conservation should create opportunities for communities, not simply impose restrictions on them.
That means supporting farmers with knowledge, conservation techniques, agricultural skills, and opportunities to generate income.
The program has also explored partnerships that can help farmers access agricultural inputs, financial services, and improved chili processing and drying technologies.
This approach helps address one of the underlying challenges of conservation: communities living alongside wildlife need sustainable ways to improve their livelihoods while protecting natural ecosystems.
A Future Where People and Elephants Can Thrive
Human-elephant conflict will not disappear through one technique alone.
It requires cooperation between farmers, communities, conservation organizations, wildlife authorities, researchers, and development partners.
But solutions such as chili fences demonstrate that communities can play a central role in addressing the challenge.
By empowering farmers to grow chili, protect their crops and participate in conservation, Tembo Pilipili is helping transform the relationship between people and elephants.
The goal is simple:
Protect farms. Protect livelihoods. Protect elephants.
And ultimately, build a future where communities living near Tanzania’s protected areas can coexist with wildlife in a safer, more sustainable way.
Join the Movement for Human-Elephant Coexistence
The Tembo Pilipili Program believes that conservation works best when local communities are part of the solution.
Through practical training, community-based conservation, chili farming, and innovative wildlife deterrent techniques, the program continues to support communities working to reduce human-elephant conflict across Tanzania.
Together, we can create communities where farmers are safer, livelihoods are stronger, and elephants are protected.
Learn More About Tembo Pilipili
Discover how the program is working with communities across Tanzania to promote humane, sustainable, and locally driven solutions to human-elephant conflict.
Protecting Farms. Empowering Communities. Conserving Wildlife.