Frontier Tanzania Environmental Research - Frontier-publications ...

increased level of danger, as there is a greater chance of attack by wild animals fromthrough the farmland. Children are also expected to assist in guarding the farm, andto be in complete charge should a parent be ill. Children of the age of 4-5 (Igumbiro)or 6 (Mlimba ‘A’) are often left at home alone, and the parents do not know whetherthey are attending school or have enough food.Many of the socio-economic problems seen in the Kilombero have been recognisedelsewhere, for example Hoare (2000) cites ‘opportunity costs’ as includingrestrictions on people’s movements; competition with elephants for water resources;the need to guard property leading to loss of sleep; reduced school attendance; pooremployment opportunities and greater exposure to malaria (Hoare, 2000).Trends in crop raiding in the KilomberoWhen asked if crop raiding had increased, decreased or stayed the same, 81.87% ofrespondents thought that it had increased. Several people indicated that the type ofcrop raiding had changed:‘Crop damage has changed from elephants and big game to small mammals, about 10years ago’ Comments from three people in Mbasa‘…increased as mice and birds reproduce’ comments from 2 people in Utengule‘...insects have increased, game animals have decreased’ Mkangawalo‘…increased because of cows wild animals stayed the same. Wild animal damage isseasonal -during the rainy season. Pastoralists scare the animals away’ Ikwambi‘…increased due to cattle, [wild] animals stayed the same.’ IkwambiIt also appears that some people are aware of possible causal factors of changinglevels of crop raiding, although people tended to use the same reasons to justifydifferent perspectives on crop raiding levels. For example:‘Crop raiding problems are due to encroachment onto their land by people’Mkangawalo‘….no deaths from animals because the [human] population is expanding and moreland is used for agriculture’ One respondent from Mlimba ‘A’.‘…[Crop raiding has] decreased as there are more people so the animals move away’One respondent from MngetaPeople in Kidugalo Lulvili, Madabadaba, Iragua, Nakafulu, Milola, Mavimba,Kichangani, Igumbiro said that crop damage had increased since the electric fenceswere put in by the Kilombero Valley Teak Company. Although elephant numberswere reported as increasing (Section 4.4) the major problems with crop damageseemed to be generated from increased numbers in rodents, baboons, bushpig andcattle. The increased number of cattle in the region not only leads to damage of crops,41