‘STING OPERATION’ KEEPS ELEPHANTS OFF THE FARMS

Mulati Ochieng' who works with David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) helps Mutua Kalamba, a farmer in Iviani Village, Mtito Andei, harvest honey from one of the several hives on his farm. The hives form a fence that helps protect the area's farmers from perennial elephant attacks. PHOTO | BRIAN OKINDA | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By BRIAN OKINDA

Stephen Musyoki and his wife Julianah’s four-acre farm in Kyusiani Village, Mtito-Andei near Tsavo East National Park sits on a conflict zone, pitting humans and elephants.

The farm, which hosts maize, sorghum and beans, as several others in the area, is usually a battleground of sorts.

Elephants are known to have an exceptional sense of smell, enabling them to track crops on farms and farm produce in the stores, as they seek to satisfy their nearly 300kg estimated daily food demand.

“Initially, we fought them using bows and arrows and stones,” says Musyoki. “Sometimes we would resort to shouting, lighting fires, hurling stones, banging metal sheets or setting dogs on them. All these, however, were usually in futility,” he adds.

In 2014, however, help came from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT). The foundation began to provide farmers with modern beehives from which they can earn a living through beekeeping.

But the primary goal was to protect their farms from the wild animals.

Elephants dislike bees and this has perfectly worked well for the farmers, enabling them to come up with ‘honey fences’, as the hives have come to be known.

The fences are erected along the farm edges and the beehives hang at intervals, sometimes even interspaced with dummy hives, which are plain boards capable of tricking the elephants away.

MAINTAIN A SAFE DISTANCE

The hives are connected to each other with a strong cable so that in case of disturbance from elephants, the bees are alerted of ‘looming attack’, making them exit their hives, with their buzzing sound scaring the animals away.

Elephants have now learnt to maintain a safe distance from the hives for fear of bee attack, thus, keeping the crops safe on the farm.

Neville Sheldrick, DSWT's Community Outreach Manager, explains a point to Sophie Onyango, British Airways' New Business Development Manager, in a farm in Kyusiani, Mtito Andei. The airline sponsors the project. PHOTO | BRIAN OKINDA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

“Initially I used to get up to zero returns from my farming ventures, but now I can manage up to 10 90kg bags of maize from my acre,” says Angelica Munyao, a farmer in neighbouring Iviani Village.

Further, she gets at least 5kg of honey which she sells to DSWT at Sh300 per kilo and the trust in turn processes and packages it for sale at their gift shop in Nairobi.

“During their excursions, the elephants now walk along the fence, always keeping a safe distance from the hives, as they seek to cross over to the other side of the fence, in the end giving up and going back,” says Neville Sheldrick, the project’s community outreach manager.

Rosemary Syombua from Honey Care Africa says farming and wildlife are equally beneficial to the locals’ economy hence ways have to be devised to ensure a conflict-free coexistence between farmers and the elephants.

CHALLENGES

The project has, however, had to contend with challenges brought about by those it is intended to benefit.

“We essentially offer the hives to willing farmers who must also put an effort in maintaining and caring for them,” Neville says. “But there are still residents who wouldn’t want them on their farms, due to cultural beliefs, with some telling us bees bring bad luck on the farm.”

Such instances make it difficult to fully utilise the innovation as adjacent farms require a fence without breaks to efficaciously protect the crops.

“We are proud to support this simple yet safe, profit-oriented and ingenious solution to recurrent farmers’ conflicts with elephants, beneficial primarily to smallholder farmers striving to make a living through farming,” says Sophie Onyango, the business development manager at British Airways, which sponsors the project.
CREDIT: NMG