Why Ugandan farmers gladly grow crops for chimps
| Kasongoire, Uganda
From the shade of a banana tree, Samuel Isingoma explains why he is sacrificing his precious聽jackfruit to chimpanzees.
鈥淪ince I support and give fruit to the chimps, they don鈥檛 disturb anything else,鈥� says Mr.聽Isingoma, who has planted 20 jackfruit trees on his 17-acre plot in the western Ugandan village聽of Kasongoire. The trees鈥� bounty is solely for the primates.
With encouragement from the Jane Goodall Institute, a global conservation organization,聽Ugandan farmers are playing an important role in lessening the tensions between people and聽chimps as communities encroach on the animals鈥� habitat.
Why We Wrote This
Clashes between humans and wildlife are as old as agriculture. In Uganda, farmers are ensuring a peaceful coexistence with chimpanzees by planting crops just for them.
Uganda is East Africa鈥檚 largest sugar聽cane producer and has one of the fastest-growing populations on the continent. The need to make聽space for homes and farms is reducing the聽forest cover that helps sustain chimpanzees.
James Byamukama, an executive director at the Jane Goodall Institute, says it鈥檚聽critical to have discussions within communities rather than try to impose solutions.聽Community monitors from the institute鈥檚聽Uganda chapter have recommended that farmers plant crops that aren鈥檛 so palatable聽to wildlife. So about eight years ago, Mr.聽Isingoma started planting coffee beans, leaving behind the maize he used to cultivate.
Now he is taking the institute鈥檚 advice聽one step further by giving his fruit over to聽hungry chimps.
As a result, Mr. Isingoma says, 鈥淚 feel聽there isn鈥檛 much of a human-wildlife conflict.鈥�
