The mayor of Yambio municipality on Thursday warned people against letting their livestock roam the town freely in during the cultivation season.
Addressing journalists Thursday, Yambio Mayor John Singira said livestock are destroying farms in the area and warned that those who do not tether or check the movement of their animals will be arrested.
“For those who are rearing animals like goats, pigs, cows, and others, I am telling you the owners to tie them in a place where they can be fed because they help your family by way of paying your children’s school fees,” Mayor Singira said. “Starting from today, we are not going to allow animals to move freely and anyone found guilty will be arrested charged in court.”
A livestock owner in the town who only identified himself as Adam told Radio Tamazuj that he welcome the mayor’s order and that he will adhere to the directive.
“We are looking after these animals in town to survive. I want to tell the other people who have animals in the town to follow the mayor’s directive,” Adam said. Let us do it like every year during cultivation and we tie our animals. In case an animal strays, the owner of the garden should not harm but take the matter to the chiefs to resolve peacefully.”
Josephine Dario, a farmer in Yambio town, welcomed the mayoral order and said wandering animals had destroyed crops that he should have been harvesting now.
“To our chiefs, the commissioner, and all leaders, we are cultivating so that it can help us but animals come and destroy crops,” Dario said. “You need to do something about this issue. The okra and pumpkins which I could harvest now have been destroyed by animals which have now made us suffer from hunger.”
Sadra Zekpete, another farmer living in Yambio town, said farmers are facing a lot of challenges from untethered livestock whose owners do not compensate them when crops are destroyed.
“Sometimes, we tell the livestock owners that their animal ate our produce, but they threaten us and warn us not to touch or harm their animals otherwise they will revenge,” Zekpete lamented. “Goats and pigs cause a lot of destruction in the farms. So, if the government has issued the order banning animals in town, it must be respected and if the animals eat our crops, we will report it immediately”
The predominant livestock in Yambio County are goats, sheep, and pigs.