The Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission in the Upper East Region has cautioned farmers to refrain from farming along the Eastern wildlife corridor to save lives and wild animals.
Elephants have destroyed farmlands and killed many people in eight districts of the region along the Eastern wildlife corridor.
However, as the farming season in the North begins, farmers are advised not to farm along the wildlife corridor to save lives and property.
The Eastern wildlife corridor in the Upper East Region stretches through the Bawku Municipal, Bwaku West, Bongo, Talensi, Nabdam, Binduri, Garu and Tempane districts.
The Eastern Wildlife Corridor in the Upper East Region stretches from Bawku Municipal, through Bawku West, Bongo, Talensi, Nabdam, and Binduri, Garu and Tempane Districts.
However, the migration of elephants from neighbouring Burkina Faso to Ghana, via the Corridor has come with its attendant consequences.
Notable among the dire consequences are raiding of farms and killing of other livestock by the elephants.
On some occasions, human lives have been lost.
Speaking at a workshop in Bolgatanga aimed at managing stray elephants, the Upper East Regional Manager of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, John Naada, admonished farmers and residents along the corridor to stay off the forest reserve.
“The elephant menace along the Eastern wildlife corridor is serious. They destroy people’s farms, they even kill people’s livestock and they are also a threat to humans, if you go so close to them you can be killed.”
He cautioned people not to go close to them when spotted and desist from farming along the forest reserve in order not to incur their wrath.
“Don’t go and farm along the forest reserve, that is what we have noticed. Some people have made farms in the forest reserve and that is where the elephants live and so if you farm in there, they will destroy your crops.”
But speaking at a sensitization workshop aimed at managing the menace of elephants along the corridor, Regional Manager of the Wildlife division of the forestry commission, John Naada admonished farmers and residents along the corridor to stay off the forest reserve.
Some District Chief Executives in the area said efforts are underway to sensitize farmers and residents on how to manage the situation.
Frederick Awuni | citinewsroom.com |Ghana
