SOME farmers in Kitogoro Village, Liwale District, Lindi Region, have abandoned food crops cultivation over fears of losses caused by elephant intrusions.

Speaking here at the weekend, some farmers claimed that they currently live by purchasing food as it has been five years since they decided to stop cultivating food crops, claiming that no one in the village has a stock of maize like it used to be before.

“We stopped growing maize in 2018 because it felt like we were farming to feed elephants. We live off the money we get from selling cashewnuts. They also eat cashew leaves but at least some fruits remain,” said one of the villagers, Nassoro Ally, appealing to the government to increase the number of Village Game Scouts (VGS) to help in managing the challenge.

He noted that the maize they purchase come from Songea in Ruvuma Region. He said once VGS are provided with the needed equipment, it would make it easier for them to drive the elephants away as currently they rely on wildlife officers from the district who are under the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) and Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA).

“Sometimes when one reports elephant intrusion to authorities, they tell respond that vehicle is far away in another village. Once our VGS have all the equipment, it would be easier for them to scare away the destructive animals,” Ally added, noting that villagers live in fear and often stay indoors from six in the evening.

Kitogoro Village Executive Officer Miraji Zuberi said the village, with a population of 701 people, has faced elephant invasions for years, with the situation worsening during cashewnut harvesting season.

Zuberi noted that most farmers have stopped cultivating maize due to Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC), insisting villagers currently focus on cash crops like cashewnuts, pigeon peas, and sesame.

“The HWC challenge is real; so far, 40 people have reported their farms being invaded by elephants. The GIZ project has largely helped to reduce the challenge by introducing a smelly repellent technique. On farm fields where this method was applied, farmers harvested well without elephants entering their farms,” he said, stressing the need for the method to be applied on more farms to motivate villagers to cultivate food crops including maize.

“After placing the smelly repellent fence, elephants stopped 200 meters away from the farm and then left. Our request to GIZ is to provide more education for the method to be used on more farms, a move which would help increase food production,” added Zuberi.

Anthony Kawishe, focal person for GIZ and SwissAid Tanzania projects in Liwale, said the district faces serious HWC challenges, adding that under the project, extension officers from respective villages were trained on making smelly repellent whereas the knowledge was then shared with villagers through public meetings.

GIZ is implementing the Mitigation of Human Wildlife Conflict in Tanzania project in the Ruvuma Landscape on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. In Liwale District, it is executed in 11 villages namely Turuki, Kitogoro, Mtawatawa, Mtawango, Nanjegeja, Chimbuko, Mkutano, Ngumbu, Nahoro, Naluleo and Kimbemba.

GIZ Technical Advisor in Liwale District Debora Missana told members of the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) that they consider using the smelly repellent fence method, beehives and noise deterrent (metal sheets) to protect farmers' crops from destructive animals.

“We have successfully trained villagers on alternative methods for resolving HWC. In Liwale, we have trained over 1,000 villagers on how to make smelly repellent which is used to scare away elephants,” she said.