SMALL-SCALE crop farmers in the Zambezi region of Namibia recently called on the Namibian government to compensate them for the actual value of crops destroyed by wildlife such as elephants and hippos.
Photo: Annelie Coleman
That country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism currently reimbursed farmers at R1 000/ha for damage to their crops.The Namibia, a local newspaper, reported that Lister Lutiyo, a crop producer from the Nongozi village in the Sangwali area, said that around 4,5ha of his maize and watermelon crops had been destroyed by elephants thus far in 2023.
“I planned to start harvesting at the end of March 2023 and spent [about R14 800] on ploughing and field preparation. However, now I won’t be able to get the money invested in my crop fields and the government will only pay me [about R4 797], which is not even close to covering my losses,” Lutiyo said.
He urged the government to increase the compensation amount to at least cover half of farmers’ losses.
Matthew Vuyalo, a crop producer in Maunga village, added that elephants and hippos were responsible for destroying his crops year after year. He added that he was told by the authorities that he did not qualify for compensation, as the elephants had not “eaten enough” of his crops.
Alfred Matomola of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism told The Namibia that it was currently “peak season” for human-wildlife conflict and crop damage in the Zambesi region. The Ministry thus recently launched a three-month Mudumo South Complex human-wildlife conflict joint operation to mitigate the ever-increasing human-wildlife conflict in the area.
Meanwhile, Piet Gouws, president of the Namibia Agricultural Union, said that human-wildlife conflict had a marked impact on commercial agriculture in Namibia and livestock production in particular. He had previously told Farmer’s Weekly that the overpopulation of elephants in the country had the potential to bring the national agriculture sector to its knees.
“The invasion of farms by herds of elephants in the northern parts of the country, especially in the region around the Etosha National Park, has a direct impact on the production potential of farms. While the Namibian agriculture sector is committed to the conservation of all animal species, and elephants in particular, a balance between nature and agriculture must be found and maintained,” he said.