Why is Namibia killing game animals for food rather than allowing more big game hunting?

Question

It is reported that Namibia is culling big game including elephants for food, using professional hunters. My understanding is that there is that people pay handsomely for the right to hunt these animals.

Why does the Namibian government not sell the rights to hunt these animals and use that money to buy food?

More than 700 wild animals, including hippos and elephants, are being culled in Namibia’s game parks to provide meat for the country’s hungry, the government has said, as the arid Southern African region battles its worst drought in 100 years.

About 84 percent of the country’s food reserves have been exhausted as a result of [Southern Africa's most severe drought in decades], the UN said, with nearly half of the 2.5 million population expected to experience high levels of food insecurity during the lean season from July to September.

The animals identified for culling include 30 hippos, 60 buffalos, 50 impalas, 100 blue wildebeest, 300 Zebras, 83 elephants and 100 elands (antelopes).

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Answer 1

In the prices you list at the end only a fraction is probably paid to the state as per-animal license. Most probably goes to the private parties that organize the hunt. True, that stimulates the local economy somewhat, but the effect would be rather indirect.

As for the culling for food, that does strike me as rather populist, but it happens in an emergency. I recall some stories about game wardens turning a blind eye in Pennsylvania to hunting over the permit limits during the 2008 financial crisis etc.

As the story you link says, in Namibia some of those animals might die due to the current drought. So, there might not be enough time to cash in on selling the right to kill them to some foreign visitors. It depends on the dynamics of supply and demand for [hunting] safari. Whether the Namibian government has conducted a thorough study or are acting on their instincts, I couldn't tell you.

BTW, al-Jazeera (your source) seems to have left this out, but some of those animals appear to have also been 'sold' as hunting permits (as you suggested should happen):

EHRA [Elephant-Human Relations Aid] also accuses the government of allowing trophy hunters to shoot some of the animals for a fee — a fact now confirmed by the Namibian Ministry of Environment. However, it emphasizes that it will use the money raised — equivalent to around €500,000 ($552,000) — to improve the water supply in Namibian national parks.

I suppose most safari hunters don't take a few tons of (elephant) meat with them as 'souvenir'. So, it's possible to both sell the rights to hunt them and also distribute the meat to the locals. The (more recent) PR emphasis on the latter appears indeed to be for electoral reasons (upcoming elections on November 29), or at least EHRA also suggested that.