TANZANIA: Rampaging elephants destroy crops

  1. Posted on Wednesday 6 April 2011 - 09:16
    Mugini Jacob Mwera
    Image of Mugini Jacob Mwera
    Mugini Jacob, AfricaNews reporter in Mara, Tanzania
    Fear is increasingly growing that close to 400 households comprising thousands of people in the Tarime District of Mara Region in Tanzania might face hunger if stray elephants hailing from the Serengeti National Park (SENAPA) continue to destroy crop farms that are almost ready for harvesting.
    Elephants near chalets
    Fear is increasingly growing that close to 400 households comprising thousands of people in the Tarime District of Mara Region in Tanzania might face hunger if stray elephants hailing from the Serengeti National Park (SENAPA) continue to destroy crop farms that are almost ready for harvesting.

    Local leaders have called for immediate measures to prevent the destruction before the situation gets out of hand.

    “I have come to report the situation to district authorities because jumbos are continuing with the destruction,” Nyarokoba ward councillor Mustapha Masiani said. Already the jumbos have destroyed many hectares of crop farms in the villages situated few meters away from the world famous park, according to Masiani.

    “Farmers hope to harvest next month is turning into darkness because the destruction is huge,” the civic leader lamented. He mentioned the food crops that have been destroyed as maize, millet, beans and cassavas.

    Tarime senior government officials confirmed the reports but declined to go into details.
    The councillor accused the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) for turning a blind eye on the destructive mammals.

    Late last year, Mara Regional Commissioner Colonel Enos Mfuru assured the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC), a highly decision making organ at the regional level, that TANAPA has agreed to start providing rangers to prevent stray jumbos from invading crop farms but the local leader claimed they have never seen them doing so.

    “We have only been getting help from game officers of Tarime district council but this time we don’t see them,” he said. TANAPA officials were not immediately available for comment.

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