The Kenya Wildlife Services has said it will compensate Kano rice farmers whose crops were recently destroyed by hippopotamuses.
The agency on Monday met a section of rice farmers from Nyachoda Irrigation Scheme and made the pledge.
Two weeks ago, the farmers had stormed KWS offices in Kisumu demanding compensation after hippos invaded their farms and destroyed a rice plantation.
They had then threatened to kill the animals after the agency delayed in dispatching rangers to assess the area for possible solutions, as it had promised.
“Our officers who we sent here over the weekend have filed a report, we will scrutinise then we will give you compensation forms to fill,” Kisumu County community warden Fredrick Kisera said during the sensitisation baraza.
Kisera said they had killed a rogue hippo that had threatened to attack the rangers. “Even the residents had reported that one of the mammals had turned wild,” he said.
The farmers who were expecting lasting solutions, however, expressed disappointment when the agency said: “the only lasting solution is to cultivate away from the lake shores, dig trenches around your farms or erect ‘heavy duty’ fences.”
The agency, he said, is not responsible for restricting free range wildlife which account for 70 percent of the total wildlife population.
Compensation, he added, is only made after the committee establishes that victims took reasonable efforts to avoid conflict in the first place.
The Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (2013) which came into effect January 10, has created County Wildlife Compensation Committees. This body will mitigate human-wildlife conflict and oversee reparation of victims.
The act further provides for reimbursement for livestock, crop and property loss and damages. Previously, only human injuries and death arising from such conflicts was covered.
The agency is helping train farming communities to find solutions that are compatible with the protection of wildlife. In the short-term KWS only evacuates people or animals if the problem is particularly pressing.
The agency urged residents in conflict-prone zones to stop viewing the animals as belonging to KWS.