adminLast year some farmers had half their maize fields destroyed by the wild animals.
The farmers, whose maize crop is almost ready for harvesting, said they also feared for their lives as the warthogs at times threatened to attack them when they chased them away.
“We are now taking turns to sleep at the irrigation scheme guarding the fields,” said Mr John Mabuda, a plotholder at the irrigation scheme.
The farmers said one was supposed to have dogs and should be armed with either spears or axes to be able to chase away the warthogs which they said always threatened to attack them.
The farmers said they were appealing to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management to intervene and help them contain the warthogs.
“I think the number of these warthogs is increasing because they are being hunted by newly resettled farmers in the nearby resettlement areas and are running away from those areas,” said another farmer.
The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management Cde Francis Nhema is on record discouraging farmers from killing animals urging them to find ways of cohabiting with them.
Online Reporter