Jumbos destroy 200 acres of maize in Ganze, residents threaten to kill them

With the abundance of rain currently witnessed in the Ganze subcounty, many farmers were hopeful of a bumper harvest.

The hopes of farmers, who have witnessed about six consecutive failed seasons, were even higher when no single case of the invasive fall armyworm was reported in the area.

This hope is however fizzling out due to the invasion by elephants across the subcounty.

More than 200 acres of maize have been wiped out by jumbos.

Some of the maize was at knee-length while others were fruiting.

This signals another calamity that will lead to a food-insecure subcounty.

With the more than 500 jumbos still having a field day in the farms, Ganze may never walk out of the relief food dependent subcounty tag.

The residents have threatened to kill the jumbos if KWS does not drive them back to Tsavo East National Park.

For the last two years, elephants have been roaming in Ganze and Kaloleni subcounties.

Efforts to drive them away have not been fruitful.

In Kaloleni, a woman was killed two years ago by an elephant while a man was killed by an elephant in Mitangani last year.

Some of the areas affected are Migujini, Dola, Midoina, Goshi, Kavunzoni, Mrima wa Ndege, Jila, Ndigiria, Milore and Muryachakwe.

Joseph Katoi from Migujini village in Bamba division is a worried man after his five acres of maize crop were last week destroyed by elephants.

His crops were at the knee-height stage.

“We have been receiving good rains since April and we were confident this time we will have a bumper harvest. We worked tirelessly in our farms and doubled the acreage so that we can be food secure. When we got wind of the presence of the elephants we devised some ways to keep them away but all in vain," he said.

"They came to my farm at night. I tried to chase them away by hitting old iron sheets but they started charging towards me instead of going away. I gave up and left them to eat my maize.”

Katoi said he spent more than Sh50,000 to prepare the five acres.

“All this has gone down the drain, the government should compensate me. The rains are almost over and I cannot start all over again. I had hopes that’s why I pumped my money to secure my family from hunger but now I have no option,” he added.

Mary Furaha from Mitangani village said the jumbos have held the village hostage.

She said people cannot go about their businesses as the animals roam day and night.

“They drink water in the same water pans we fetch water for domestic use. We cannot graze our livestock for fear of being attacked by the elephants. In short our lives are in danger,” she said

Apart from destroying maize crops, the jumbos have disrupted learning in some schools.

Hundreds of learners are not going to school for fear of being attacked

The animals have been strolling in residential pathways and around school compounds for more than three weeks.

Children are forced to report to schools very late and leave too early while accompanied by their parents.

For a week, the jumbos have been grazing and roaming around Migujini Primary School.

The area also has more than 60 elephants grazing in three herds.

Migujini Primary School senior teacher Omar Muhema said at least 50 pupils have been missing school while the rest report to school as late as 9am and leave at 3pm.

Muhema said this has derailed the coverage of the syllabus.

“The school timetable is highly distracted by the jumbos. We cannot cover the lessons per the timetable. Today no learning has taken place because the elephants had camped in the school compound,” he said.

Most affected are junior secondary school students who have lessons up to 5pm.

MP Kenneth Kazungu, who visited some of the schools, said he will demand suspension of learning in the affected areas until the jumbos are driven away back to the park.

Kazungu said learning in Migujini, Rimarapera, Midoina and Ndigiria primary schools has been disrupted.

Ndigiria Primary School deputy head teacher Samuel Ngumbao said around 10 pupils in every class have been missing classes for the last three weeks while the school programme has been completely disrupted.

The MP said he supports a move by residents to take it upon themselves to drive away the elephants if the government will not act.

“Many residents have called me asking for my approval to kill these jumbos. I support them and when they do so they should not be arrested because the people tasked with that job are not doing it. How are we going to alleviate hunger if we cannot protect people against these jumbos,” he said.

Kenya Wildlife Service senior assistant director Coast conservation area John Wambua said they have received numerous human-wildlife conflict cases in Bamba and Ganze areas.

Speaking to the Star on the phone, he said the problem has been due to less rainfall in Tsavo area.

“In Bamba and Ganze areas, the residents experienced good rains, but Tsavo did not get enough rains, that is why the animals have migrated to those regions in search of food,” Wambua said.

He said a response team of KWS rangers has been deployed in the area to drive the elephants back to Tsavo.

“We have also brought in the reinforcement of additional officers from Laikipia and we will deploy a chopper to ensure the elephants are driven back to Tsavo,” Wambua said.

He said asked the farmers to be patient as all the affected persons will be compensated for the crops destroyed.

“The farmers should know KWS also compensate for crops destroyed by animals. We will conduct an assessment, with the help of agricultural officers and each of the affected farmers will be asked to fill in the compensation forms,” he said.