Related Articles
By Moses Otim
Livestock owners in the grater Orom 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 by the Karamojong which saw all the Anti Stock Theft Unit, ASTU personnel deployed to curb the raids.
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.
Romano Okot, a cattle owner in Lolia parish in Orom Sub County said they 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.
Johnson Toodera, the LCIII Chairperson of Orom Sub County says that they set up 10 community kraals 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.
Hon Lamwaka mangret Odwar the Member of Parliament chua east constituency and also in the committee of defense in the 11th parliament of Uganda welcomed the steps taken by the community for keeping the castles in the kraals saying its easy for security to protect them.
She appealed to the community to always report any theft of cattle within the district to the security personnel for retrieving.
Hon Lamwaka mangret Odwar during the meeting with the community in Orom sub-county in Kitgum district
