Horticulture farmers in Laikipia County are up in arms over invasion of their farms by elephants which have led to damage of crops causing them financial losses.
According to the farmers drawn from Kandorobo/Kambi Simba in Melwa Location of Laikipia West Constituency, cases of human-wildlife conflicts have been on the rise despite efforts and calls to control the movement of wild animals living outside the protected areas.
Led by David Njoroge, the farmers expressed their fears that the animals have continued to wreaked havoc as they roam around the farms even during the day.
They added that their calls to the authorities to have the jumbos contained within their territories have one unanswered as the animals still stray into farms with damages running into millions of shillings.
With the electric fence around Kambi Simba already destroyed, the farmers now want the KWS to speed up repairing process of the damaged fence around Rumuruti forest.
Stephen Toniok added that the victims who have sought compensation from the KWS for the damages caused to their farms are also yet bare fruits.
He lamented that the government has similarly delayed compensation funds adding that this has also hindered them from clearing bank loans and now they are worried they might be auctioned.
On his part, William Kipsos regretted that the KWS was receiving complaints from farmers on a daily bases but despite filling up the necessary compensation forms, nothing has been forthcoming.
He also noted the number of elephants in the area have increased and this has overwhelmed the KWS rangers, hence the need to translocate them to other forests.
