The ban was imposed in 1990 after the government signed the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The convention was amended this year to allow elephant hunting, but under strict conditions.

Agostinho Carlos do Rosario, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, said the ivory would be sold abroad and the revenue generated spent on the conservation of the country’s remaining elephants.

Mozambique has about 15 000 elephants, with 9 000 in Niassa province, 5 000 in Tete, 2 500 in Cabo Delgado and 600 in Sofala.

Peasant farmers in Niassa, who regularly lose their subsistence crops to elephants, have welcomed the lifting of the ban.

Farmers in Lichinga region, Niassa, have been outspoken about elephants posing…