The Peace Parks Foundation of South Africa handed over an electric fence worth R250 000 to Shashe Irrigation Scheme, outside Beit Bridge to help deter stray elephants from destroying crops in the fields.

The Peace Parks Foundation project manager, Mr Bradley Poole, said his organization had to source funds, following an outcry from local villagers who continued to lose crops to stray ele-phants from the Kruger National Park.

“As partners and co-coordinators of the Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs), one of our action plans is to involve and support communities around TFCAs Since Shashe village is strategically located, we realized that elephants were destroying crops at the Shashe irrigation scheme and therefore, as part of that imitative, we had to provide funds for the erection of an elec-tric fence to deter the animals,” he said.

“The irrigation farming is vital, especially in this dry area where we have more failed crops; hence the need to support the local community’s livelihood.”

Poole said his organization planned to revitalize the irrigation scheme, which is currently not operating at full capacity due to dysfunctional engines pumps. The scheme has 80 plot holders. “We are also working on refurbishing the irrigation scheme, following the breakdown of the pipes and the engine pumps and the canals, which were destroyed by ele-phants. This is line with our second-phase plan,” he said.

The councilor for the area, Mr Luka Ndou, commended the Peace Parks Foundation for the donation, saying it would go a long way in alleviating hunger, as people will now be able to realize more yields. “Our people could not record bumper harvests because of the elephants that continued to destroy their crops. The donated fence will ensure that no elephant strays into the fields,” he said.

Shashe Irrigation scheme is the largest irrigation scheme in the district, with a total of 160 hectares. However, due to acute water shortage as a result of the constant breakdown of engine pumps, villagers had to reduce the farming area to only 80 hectares.

Meanwhile, the international coordinator of the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA, Mr Johan Verhoef, said there was a need for the opening up of more tourist crossing points to facilitate the free movement of tourists entering the SADC re-gion. “We are working on ensuring that there are more crossing points for tourists. In fact, the development of TFCAs is aimed at facilitating that process, so that tourists get unrestricted access to the beauty of the region. In future, we will have more crossing points,” he said.

The governments of Zimbabwe and South Africa are working on establishing a border posts at Mapungubwe and Tshitulipasi. The move is aimed at reducing congestion at Beit Bridge Border Post, which continues to handle a huge influx of travellers passing through every day.