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Zimbabwe to set up fund to compensate farmers
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The Government is working on plans to establish a compensation fund for farmers who lose crops to wildlife, particularly elephants, Environment, Climate and Wildlife Minister Dr Evelyn Ndlovu has revealed.
She was responding in Parliament to a question by Beitbridge West legislator Thusani Ndou, who sought clarity on the Government's policy regarding compensation for farmers affected by human-wildlife conflict.
Dr Ndlovu said Zimbabwe's elephant population continues to grow at a rapid pace, yet international restrictions under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) limit the country's ability to control numbers through trade.
"The elephant population is growing in an amazing manner because we have no control and we are not allowed to dispose of the elephants by CITES, a trading system that is in the world," she said.
"As a result, we have decided as the Government that we are going to work on a programme to set up a fund that will assist in compensating our people."
The Minister added that her ministry is implementing several measures to reduce human-wildlife conflict, including the recruitment of additional rangers to manage national parks and buffer zones.
"We want to see our people harvest their crops. We have tried to recruit as many rangers as possible so that they can manage the area that is currently covered by our parks and wildlife to prevent the movement of elephants from their original area of residence to where human beings are settled," she explained.
Dr Ndlovu also noted that most cases of crop destruction are linked to elephants moving in search of water rather than food. To address this, the Government is working to improve water availability within protected areas.
"We are also working hard to make sure that we provide water nearer to or within the parks so that elephants do not move out of the parks to look for water," she said.
She added that her ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development to construct more dams and pump water for wildlife, reducing the risk of elephants encroaching on farmlands.
She was responding in Parliament to a question by Beitbridge West legislator Thusani Ndou, who sought clarity on the Government's policy regarding compensation for farmers affected by human-wildlife conflict.
Dr Ndlovu said Zimbabwe's elephant population continues to grow at a rapid pace, yet international restrictions under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) limit the country's ability to control numbers through trade.
"The elephant population is growing in an amazing manner because we have no control and we are not allowed to dispose of the elephants by CITES, a trading system that is in the world," she said.
"As a result, we have decided as the Government that we are going to work on a programme to set up a fund that will assist in compensating our people."
The Minister added that her ministry is implementing several measures to reduce human-wildlife conflict, including the recruitment of additional rangers to manage national parks and buffer zones.
"We want to see our people harvest their crops. We have tried to recruit as many rangers as possible so that they can manage the area that is currently covered by our parks and wildlife to prevent the movement of elephants from their original area of residence to where human beings are settled," she explained.
Dr Ndlovu also noted that most cases of crop destruction are linked to elephants moving in search of water rather than food. To address this, the Government is working to improve water availability within protected areas.
"We are also working hard to make sure that we provide water nearer to or within the parks so that elephants do not move out of the parks to look for water," she said.
She added that her ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development to construct more dams and pump water for wildlife, reducing the risk of elephants encroaching on farmlands.
Source - the herald
