Impact of mixed cropping system and its contribution to mitigating crop raiding by large vertebrates around Bungoma Central Forest Reserve

Abstract

Human Wildlife Conflict remains a global challenge both to conservation and to the well-being of the local people living adjacent to wildlife conservation areas. The vulnerability levels of people in developing countries are higher compared to well-off inhabitants of developed nations. Continuous planting of traditional crops in a monoculture cropping system implies enhanced habituation of raiders to these crops. Therefore, it is plausible that cropping systems that do not provide optimal foraging capacity for raiders are less likely to be raided. This study assessed the Impact of mixed cropping system and its contribution to mitigating crop raiding by large vertebrates around Bugoma Central Forest reserve. An experiment was carried out to examine the effectiveness of different cropping systems in mitigating crop raiding by large vertebrates. Three experimental plots were laid along the forest boundary and treatments (homogenous of maize, homogenous of soya bean and a heterogeneous of maize and soya bean) were applied in these plots. Replication was carried out by nesting of the 17 subplots within each of the three main plots. Data was collected between the months of August and December 2020 on parameters of age of the crop, crop name, height of the crop, distance from the forest boundary, type of raid event, new stems raided, and raiding wildlife species. A zeroinflated Generalized Linear Mixed-Effects Model (GLMM) was fitted using the glmm TMB function in the MASS package, assuming a Poisson distribution of errors to examine the temporal patterns of raiding incidents. A survey was conducted and a questionnaire administered to 140 households to determine the preferred crop raiding mitigation methods by farmers around Bugoma Central Forest Reserve and factors influencing the choice of cropping system by farmers around Bugoma Central Forest Reserve. The study indicated that 100% of the respondents preferred guarding as their priority mitigation method. Marital status (married and single) significantly influenced the choice of practicing mono cropping system. The result showed maize mono crop was the most raided compared to the mixed crop of soya bean and maize. There was significant effect of distance from the forest boundary on the crop raiding incidents across all the cropping systems though more pronounced in the maize mono crop. The findings of this study will be used to mitigate crop raiding through encouraging farmers around protected areas to minimize planting of palatable crops such as maize in a mono cropping system hence enhancing co-existence between humans and wildlife.