Residents of three villages in Lambwe West Location, Suba North constituency in Homa Bay County have raised alarm over increasing incidents of monkey invasion in their farms.
The residents of Kameo Pundo, Ogando and Kamato Gul villages complained that the monkeys which are believed to be coming from Ruma National Park are destroying food crops in the farms, a situation that has left them incurring losses.
Joram Odhiambo, a farmer at Kamato Pundo Village lamented that the primates whose numbers keep increasing in the region are also invading homesteads in search of food.
“These monkeys keep on coming and destroying our crops. We believe that they are coming from Ruma national park and the number keeps on increasing which worries us a lot,” said Odhiambo.
The residents said that the wild animals’ attacks are subjecting them to serious hunger as they are left with nothing to take home as food, adding that the invasion can barely be controlled by use of dogs.
“We normally use dogs to chase them away but with time the monkeys have become daring. We are already experiencing hunger issues and we are afraid the situation will last for a long time as we have almost nothing to harvest,” said Maurine Odhiambo, a resident.
The residents now want the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) to find a permanent solution to the current human-wildlife conflict in the area.
Confirming this, Lambwe West location Chief Daniel Obure said that monkeys and baboons have for a long time caused immense destruction in the area.
“The more destructive of the two are monkeys because they destroy crops leaving nothing behind. Baboons usually take chickens and young animals like lambs but they rarely go for food crops,” said the Chief.
By Otieno Angela and Sitna Omar
