Smallholder farmers in Upper East bemoan elephants destroying farms 

Smallholder farmers in the Nabdam and Talensi Districts of the Upper East Region have expressed concern about the destruction of their food crops and farms by elephants, particularly during the harvesting seasons. 

They said the situation was posing food insecurity and throwing farmers out of business. 

The farmers, therefore, appealed to the state authorities to help them confront the challenges of elephants’ invasion and destruction of their farms to avert post harvest losses and food insecurity among the rural smallholder farmers. 

The smallholder farmers, who belong to the Maaltaaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative (MAPEWFAC), made the appeal at a joint project review meeting with stakeholders held in Bolgatanga. 

The joint stakeholders review meeting organized by the Maaltaaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative (MAPEWFAC), was aimed at reviewing the “Empowering Rural Peasant Women Farmers to act through access to local & decentralized Policies, Programmes on Rural Agriculture and Livelihood (The EMPOWER Project)” being implemented by MAPEWFAC, with funding support from STAR Ghana Foundation. 

Mr Nahu Yamg, one of the farmers who doubled as the overseer of traditional lands from Sakoti in the Nabdam District, explained that the elephants often migrated from Burkina Faso through the Wildlife Corridors closer to the two districts at the time farmers crops were getting ready for harvesting. 

He stated that the situation was becoming alarming, compelling many smallholder farmers to sleep on their farms to ward off the elephants.  

Ms Priscilla Noah, another smallholder farmer, indicated that already the region was facing climate change impacts leading to food insecurity and stressed that the invasion of the elephants would compound the farmers’ plight the more. 

The smallholder farmers further expressed worry about how some nomadic Fulani headsmen destroy shea trees in the area, which they noted is one of the sources of their livelihoods.   

The farmers also complained about the high cost of tractor services during farming season and appealed to the Department of Food and Agriculture to come to their aid. 

Responding to the issues raised by the farmers, Mr Rashid Imoro, Nabdam District Director of Agriculture, assured the farmers that plans were ongoing to establish beehives in the area to help curb the elephants from destroying farms in the area. 

On tractor services, the District Director pledged to address the challenge and entreated the women to come together to help lessen the cost of the tractor services. 

Ms Lydia Miyella, the Executive Director of MAPEWFAC, explained that the purpose of the joint stakeholder meeting was to evaluate the project to see if it was yielding the desired results for beneficiaries. 

She indicated that she was now happy that the beneficiaries of the project, mainly single mothers, teenage girls, PWDs and their households, could now access government interventions to help improve upon their livelihoods. 

Mr Vincent Subbey, a Development Consultant,?who facilitated the forum educated the stakeholders on how to engage in effective advocacy campaigns to bring positive changes in their livelihoods.  

Source: GNA  

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