V/R: Residents poison dam to kill Fulani cattle

There is brewing tension at Aflavenu in the Central Tongu District of the Volta Region following claims by some residents that someone has poisoned the only dam in the town in an attempt to kill cattle belonging to Fulani herdsmen in the area.

All the fish in the water, which serves the community, are reported dead, reigniting a feud between locals and the Fulani nomads.

A resident told Class FM’s Volta Regional correspondent, Emmanuel Atukpa that the frequent destruction of farmlands by cattle belonging to the Fulani has enraged the local farmers and may have led to the situation.

“The Fulani would lead their cattle at night to go to people’s farms. About 8 acres of a certain lady’s cassava farm were totally destroyed by the animals recently. It looks like the Fulani are the most disturbing people over there. If the Fulanis’ cattle will go to people’s farms and they would not know whose cattle it is, the same way the people will poison the pond without knowing who has done it,” the concerned resident explained.

Meanwhile, another resident, Cudjoe Borkor, has revealed that residents have turned to an alternative source of water after discovering that the dam had been polluted.

He, however, raised an alarm that some farmers are using the poisoned water on their pepper farms and called on security agencies to intervene and prevent the act, since the harvested produce could end up in the market for public consumption.

“There was a floating fish on top of the water and when I checked, the water had a strong smell. The residents used a different dam when they were notified that this one had been poisoned. Some of them were using the poisoned water for their pepper farms, which was very surprising. So, I rushed to Adidome to inform people on radio to alert the security too,” he narrated.