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By O’Neill A.R. Philips
Farmers in Gbarpolu County have been alarmed over the mass destruction of their farms by rooming elephants.
The affected farmers are from Zuo, Tumuquelleh, Gbaryama towns, and surrounding villages in Dongbea Chiefdom, Barma clan in Gbarpolu County.
Speaking with The Liberia Agricultural and Environmental Journalists Network in Gbarpolu, the farmers said over the last few weeks, the rooming elephants have consistently moved into their rice, cassava, and other vegetable farms and eaten their produce.
The situation has resulted in the farmers panicking, as they no longer go on their farms for fear of being attacked by the elephants.
Elder Moses Thompson of Gbaryama Town in Gbarpolu disclosed that he and other villagers have seen the elephants vis-sa-vis eating their crops, adding that โbecause elephants are endangered and protected in Liberia, we just flee and come to town.โ
He narrated that at times the elephants including their young would walk along the motor road leading to the villages, something that instilled fear and amazement in them
Moreover, in a brief stop in Gbarma, Gbarma District, residents there also complained of the elephants destroying their farms and noted that the matter of the roaming elephants must claim the attention of the national government.
“We are suffering from the hands of the elephants”, Ma Hawa Kamara of Gbarma cried. “We can’t go on the farm easily again”, waving her two hands to the sky in despair.
According to the farmers, they have contacted the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) for intervention.
The farmers complained that the FDA has done nothing to curb the situation, but admonished them not to hunt the elephants as they are endangered species.
However, the residents expressed frustration over the slow pace in which the issue of the rooming elephants is being handled while their farms have been destroyed.
They called on the government to find a solution to the matter as delay has cost them their farms, leaving them poorer.
Also, the farmers in Gbarpolu disclosed that birds are consistently eating the rice on their farmland leaving huge amounts of rice lost to them.
