Nakuru Farmers Count Losses As Marauding Monkeys Invade Farms, Ruin Crops

The farmers now lament that if proper measures are not enforced, they will be forced to halt their farming activities as a way of averting continuous losses caused by the primates.

One of the victims, Joyce Wanjiru Kimani, says that despite putting in many hours on their farms with the hope of a bumper harvest, for the last four years they have had nothing to smile about since all their efforts are negated by the monkeys.

“Most of us depend entirely on the farm produce to cater for our daily needs. We work so hard to produce something to sell in the markets and store some in our homes for daily consumption but all these efforts are watered down by these monkeys when they attack,” Wanjiru said.

Another victim, Geoffrey Kamau, who mainly grows maize and bananas, said that the monkeys have become a big threat and aggressive towards humans. While showing sections of the destroyed banana plantation in his compound, Kamau says that nothing scares the monkeys away when they decide to invade the crops.

“The monkeys have lost their sense of fear; they no longer scamper even after being shooed away. They are very daring; they even destroy crops that are near households with no fear. At this rate, we will have nothing to harvest from our shambas,” Kamau said.

The farmers are now calling on the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to come to their rescue or else the families will starve.

In 2018, the county government launches a series of measures to address the invasion, including laying traps for the monkeys, all of which were in vain.