Wild Meat Value Chain Integration Systems: Opportunities for Value Chain Formalisation and Scaling in Africa

Establishing legal, safe and sustainable wild meat sector promises to potentially reduce demand for illegally sourced meat, support livehoods, and contribute to conservation goals. However, institutional mechanisms and systems to champion sustainable wild meat value chains are underdeveloped, making it a challenge for the sector to formalise and scale. This study investigated how value chain systems are/can be organised and integrated. Also, transitional pathways to value chain formalisation and scaling were evaluated. Literature data (n = 96) on plains game wild meat value chains in Africa from 2000 to 2023 was subjected to thematic analysis to identify patterns and linkages in the value chain systems. The results show that while rural and poor communities are the largest recipients of illegal wild meat, they are structurally excluded from the legal game meat value chains. Illegal and legal wild meat value chain systems show three levels of integration: fully, partially and independently integrated systems. Each system presents a unique opportunity for scaling up enterprises and developing institutional governance to deliver well-managed wild meat value chains embedded with system-specific sustainable harvesting and use practices.