Hippos destroy crops in Masvingo

From Masvingo Bureau

RAMPAGING hippopotamuses have destroyed crops belonging to resettled and communal farmers near Mutirikwi River in Masvingo over the past few weeks.

The worst affected farmers are in the Hwendedzo and Mazare resettlement areas to the east of Masvingo District and Zano in Chikwanda communal lands in Masvingo Central. The hippos also damaged irrigated maize and beans at Stanmore Resettlement Scheme in Masvingo, leaving most plot holders facing food shortages. Some farmers at the irrigation scheme yesterday said they had now lost hope of harvesting anything this season after the hippos destroyed most of their crops. "The level of destruction is very disturbing because in some of the plots the animals destroyed almost all the crops and now we do not know how we are going to repay the loans that we got last year to finance farming programmes,’’ said Mr Emmanuel Matuma. The affected farmers accused the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of not doing enough to tame the hippos. "We have been informing the parks people about the problems here but they never came here as they were arguing that they did not have fuel. We are now demanding compensation for our destroyed crops,’’ said Mr Charles Dzingirayi of Zano in Chikwanda communal lands. The authority’s public relations manager Retired Major Edward Mbewe ruled out paying any compensation to the affected farmers saying there was nothing which made them liable to compensate the farmers. Rtd Major Mbewe, however, acknowledged the damages to crops being caused by hippos in Masvingo and other provinces. He said his organisation was presently doing patrols in Masvingo and Chivi to contain the situation. "Hippos are our national heritage like other wild animals and there is nothing which ties us to compensate those farmers whose crops were destroyed by these animals. ‘‘Only last week, we actually shot one hippo in the area and this really shows our desire to contain the situation but we cannot be everywhere at the same time,’’ said Rtd Major Mbewe. He said hippos had a tendency to move upstream during times of rains and were likely to move near areas where people live and destroy their crops. Every year, farmers living on the banks of Mutirikwi River and the shores of Lake Mutirikwi lose most of their crops to hippos.

While I hate that for the folks who have lost their crops, I'm reminded of a statement by a Professor in a wildlife management course I took a couple of decades ago - "If you plant pineapples in a salt marsh, it shouldn't be the government's responsibility to reimburse you when it fails." Sounds like too little foresight - and plenty enough folks who should share the blame for the situation.

Acer:

As a somewhat jaundiced observer of the American academic scene for some time now (I'll be 76 next month) I am astonished that you were exposed only "a couple of decades" ago to a prof who could voice such sentiments. Of course, it's similar to situations in the US where people want to build in a flood plain - and want taxpayer money spent to reimburse them after the river rises.

Gerry375, well said...

Mike

There are exceptions to the rule. The Masai manage to raise cattle in the very worst lion areas on earth.

VBR,

Ted Gorsline

Note the "re-settlement scheme" reference.

I guess growing crops on stolen land is not so rosy after all.

Yes, there's a lot of "key" words and phrases in that article besides resettlement. Such words or phrases as: " not doing enough to tame the Hippos", Hippos are our national heritage...and there is nothing which ties us to compensate those farmers", " they did not have fuel", "Only last week we actually shot one Hippo and this really shows our desire to contain the situation", and "Every year, farmers living on the banks...lose most of their crops to hippos". Seems to me that those farmers ought to consider "resettling" to another area.