Introduction

Tetu is a sub-county in Nyeri County, Kenya.  It is located West of Nyeri town, the county headquarters. It is also an electoral region called Tetu Constituency that elects and sends a constituency representative to Parliament. In accordance with the Constituency Development Fund Act, Tetu Constituency has a development fund called the Tetu Constituency Development Fund, hereafter referred to as Tetu CDF or CDF. The CDF is run by a fund manager. The Fund receives money from the national Consolidated Fund on basis of annual allocations made by Parliament for community development.

As of 2020, Tetu had a total population of 78,318 and a density of about 378 persons per km2. Tetu is predominantly a rural agricultural region served by a number of small shopping centers with the main ones being Muthinga, Gichira, Ithekahuno and Wamagana. It has a good road network linking the residents to the centres and to the nearby Nyeri Town.  Residents easily get services, they cannot get at the centres, from Nyeri town where they also conduct major.  

Description of the Challenge

The Tetu constituency has a dense forest cover, the highest in Nyeri County. This cover combined with the neighbouring forest in the adjoining Nyandarua ranges has provided a conducive place for rapid growth of primates’ population. Since 2017, the primates have increasingly invaded crop fields and now pose a serious threat to a range of agricultural activities in the constituency.

From preliminary surveys, farmers indicated that the farms have to be guarded the whole day against the marauding troops of primates. The troops invade farms at any time of the day when there are no people around and may cause losses of between 40-60% of the harvest. The troop size may range between 20 to 50 individuals.

They are scared using dogs but disappear for a short time and return to the farms. This is costing the farms because they leave other core engagements to guard their farms. In some cases, residents skip church service on Sunday and other social activities so as to guard their crops. 

Indeed, some farmers, previously with profitable farming activities, have abandoned crop growing for other businesses. The Tetu CDF would like to get solutions to protect the crops from the primates without negating the gains made in the exemplary reforestation and increase in bio-diversity achieved over the last decade. Other agencies dealing with wildlife do not seem to have a suitable solution to the menace. For the improvement of the social economic status of the households in Tetu, this primate menace will need to be effectively mitigated.