- The elephants have left one person dead and more than Sh6 million worth of crops destroyed since March.
- Three weeks ago, a herder went missing only to be found dead three days later.
Image: ELIAS YAA
Farmers in Ganze are staring at a bleak future due to constant invasion by marauding elephants.
The residents are now appealing to the government to fence off the Tsavo East National park to end loss to lives and property.
The elephants have left one person dead and more than Sh6 million worth of crops destroyed since March.
Three weeks ago, a herder went missing only to be found dead three days later. Residents said he had been trampled on by an elephant.
“The herder left home with livestock but in the evening the livestock returned home on their own. The following morning a search was conducted in Murya Chakwe where he had gone to graze. He was discovered after three days, with his body concealed using branches. This is what elephants do after they kill,” resident Kenga Katana said.
For the past four years, Ganze residents have been battling human-wildlife conflicts.
Four people have been killed in that period in Mrima wa Ndege, Shaka, Goshi and Ndatani villages.
Eunice Shungu from Kang’amboni lost four acres of cassava that would have fetched her over to Sh1 million.
In the latest invasion in May, one-and-half acres of her cassava farm was destroyed by the jumbos.
Shungu had entered into contract farming with a cassava entrepreneur who was due to buy her produce
“Following this unfortunate incident, my husband and I don’t know what to do. We had a client who had already paid us Sh50,000 up front, and the cassava was to be harvested at the end of this month,” she said.
Kilifi County Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme estimates that an acre of cassava has 4,000 plants with each plant estimated to produce 10kg of cassava.
“The minimum price a kilogramme of cassava can fetch is Sh5. This means from an acre you can get a minimum of Sh200, 000. The cost of production fro an acre is between Sh50,000 to 60, 000. So, a farmer gets a profit of around Sh150,000 from cassava alone. If the farmer decides to sell seeds then he can make over Sh600, 000 in an acre,” said Caroline Farra, the ASDSP Kilifi county coordinator.
Kafedha Maitha, a resident of Jitume village, said the wild animals have frustrated them as they depend on farming. Her entire farm was turned into an elephant grazing field.
“I planted cassava in my farm and on three occasions it has been destroyed. I reported my case to KWS, they assessed the damage. I was told to visit the office at Arabuko Sokoke to fill the compensation form, but I cannot afford the fare to Arabuko,” Maitha said.
She was also demoralised because farmers who had filled the forms earlier have not been paid to date.
“You have lost your crops then you use more money to fill forms that do not yield anything. I gave up,” Maitha said
Kilifi county assembly speaker Teddy Mwambire also lost crops to the jumbos in his six-acre farm in Forodhoyo.
Mwambire said his crops worth more than Sh4 million were destroyed in three invasions this year.
Banana plantations, pawpaw trees and a mango orchard were flattened.
“Last week, my herdsman had to run for his life at around 9am when he met the elephants face to face while looking after cattle. This experience is not a joke,” Mwambire said.
The speaker called on the government to quicken the compensation process to cushion farmers against eminent poverty.
He said there were over 100 elephants roaming farms in Ganze.