Livestock owners in Orom Sub-county in Kitgum District have agreed to keep their animals in communal kraals to protect them from cattle rustlers.
The farmers in Orom, Orom East, and Kiteny sub-counties in Kitgum district have since December 2021 suffered increased cattle raids following the disarmament exercise in Karamoja which saw all the Anti Stock Theft Unit, ASTU personnel deployed to implement the exercise.
Since that time, district leaders in Kitgum district have been advising livestock farmers to keep their animals in communal kraals to safeguard them from rustlers, with little success.
Most of the farmers argued that cramming the animals together would expose them to numerous infections, saying many farmers do not vaccinate their animals.
However, as the animal thefts increased, even more, the farmers requested the deployment of soldiers in the vicinity to scare away the cattle rustlers.
In April, Kitgum District received a UPDF battalion to counter attacks by Karamojong warriors targeting locals and their animals, but the raids persisted, forcing the farmers to heed the advice of the leaders.
Romano Okot, a cattle owner in Lolia parish in Orom Sub County said the cattle owners agreed to keep their animals together after soldiers said no rescue will be made of any animal raided from the owners’ home.
Okot said they have established their communal kraal near an army detach and have not experienced any attack since. He explained that the farmers take their animals at 6 am for grazing and return them at 5 pm for safekeeping.
Okot however revealed that all the animals kept in the common kraals were first vaccinated before, to prevent the spread of diseases among them.
Johnson Toodera, the LCIII Chairperson of Orom sub county says that they set up 10 community kraals in the sub-county which are holding at least 300 animals. Toodera said the initiative has greatly reduced cattle raids in the sub-county, save for isolated cases where owners leave the animals under the care of children.
He revealed that one of the recent raids happened on August 27th, when 22 herds of cattle were raided from Ojorongole Village because the owners left children to graze them, and on August 30 when they stole one cattle belonging to the LCII. Toodera however said 14 of the 22 animals were recovered.
Toodera, however, said farmers in Lolia parish, which is within the trading center are adamant to keep their animals in common, because of concerns about animal diseases.
He however said only four out of 44 villages are still adamant to keep their animals in common kraals. The villages are; Tempulu, Wang kenya, Kona, Rukuk and Lokipawa. In these villages, only a few farmers have agreed to the communal kraaling of animals.
Toodera appealed to the farmers who have not yet agreed to the collective keeping of animals to think twice, saying they are losing their wealth.
He revealed that since the year began, at least 441 cattle have been raided from the sub-county and only 158 have been recovered, while 824 goats and sheep have been raided and only 12 have been recovered.
Toodera believes that the number of stolen animals could be more than registered as some owners don’t report their losses.
-URN
