Identification of Crop Raiding Species and the Status of Their Impact on Farmer Resources in Gera, Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in Gera district, southwestern Ethiopia. Currently, in different parts of Africa, wild animals seriously compete for resource with human being. This affects the economy of the community and the conservation of wildlife. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify crop raiding species and estimate the magnitude of agricultural field crop and domestic animals loss due to wild animals in the Gera district, Jimma zone, southwestern Ethiopia. Data were collected via semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussion, direct observation and key informant interview. One-way ANOVA and t-test were used to analyze damage caused by wild animals. Pearson correlation was used to test the relation between distance of study village and family size with damage events. Chi-square test was used to analyze traditional methods used by the respondents. Olive Baboon, Bush Pig, Warthogs, Grivet Monkey and Porcupine were the identified damage causing wild animals on Crops. -----------------------------------------------------------------------* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [e-mail]. International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research (IJSBAR) (2015) Volume 22, No 2, pp 66-82 The most predators on small ruminant and chickens were Olive Baboons. A total of 912 damage events were registered on five sample sites on crops such as, maize, teff and sorghum in the production season 2013/2014. The registered damage events were significantly different from site to site (P =0.037) and it was high in sites which have less distance from forest edge. A total of 259 and 240 Olive Baboons, and 126 and 148 Grivet Monkeys were estimated in the sampled forest in dry and wet season respectively. There was no significant difference between the number of wild animals in wet and dry season (P > 0.05). Guarding, chasing, fencing, scarecrow and smoking were used for defending crop and livestock. There was significant difference between types of the strategy used by the community (P < 0.001) where guarding is the most (30%) while smoking is the least (0.8%) used strategy. To control the number of crop raiding wild animals, further study is needed to estimate their population status in the entire district. Production of alternative crop (such as coffee), apiculture, ecotourism and livestock raring were suggested as solution for protection strategy in this study. And investment should be based on proper site selection which is feasible economically and ecologically.