Crop-raiding
From time to time I have mentioned the topic of crop-raiding. It is the reason farmers set
leg-hold traps and the reason for our live-trap project. It is the reason farmers hate baboons
more than any other species. Baboons are public enemy no. 1 in the area around Budongo
Forest. These baboons (Papio anubis) live in the forest and emerge to raid crops. They
cause a lot of damage, they take people’s food which has to be bought instead, and because
they may appear at any moment during the daylight hours it is necessary to be constantly
vigilant. At night it’s the turn of wild pigs to emerge and raid fields for root crops. So vigil-
ance is needed by night too. Pigs are public enemy no. 2. Sometimes damage is so bad that
crops have to be replanted. Kate Hill has made a special study of crop-raiding around
Budongo Forest and what follows is largely taken from her work.
Her first study (Hill 1997) was made in seven villages in Nyabyeya Parish from
July to September 1992. The villages were: Nyakafunjo, Nyabyeya 1, Nyabyeya 2,
Nyabyeya Centre, Kyempunu, Maramu and Kanyege. Each village was visited for a
total of 5–7 days. By interview, using two interpreters, questions were asked in
Kiswahili, Lunyoro or English. A total of 245 people were interviewed. Only one person
refused to take part.
Forty-three per cent of the sample were subsistence farmers, though some of these
were growing cash crops such as tobacco; 22% were ‘employees’. Others ran their own
shops or pitsawing businesses.
204 The human foreground
Fig. 10.3: Karongo marketplace (photo: V.R.).