A farmer grievance meeting was hosted today at the District forest office at 10 am, near the North Coimbatore fly-over. Hundreds of farmers from the district of Coimbatore like Thondamuthur, Alandurai, Thadagam, Kovanur, Tholampalayam, Vellinagadu, Kandiyur participated in this meet.
District Forest Officer, Ramasubramanian presided over the meeting. M. Nasir, Mettupalayam, Range Officer welcomed the gathering. The forest department officials interacted with the farmers on the steps taken to distance the wild animals from the farmlands and entering villages. Elephant, wild boar, bison, deer, peacock, monkey were considered to be the main threat to the farmers. The impact of the crop damage due to these wild animals were discussed in detail at this meet.
Farmers' put forth their grievances, which were mostly aligned about the human-animal conflict. The farmers' raised the day-to-day issues faced by them due to the destruction of crops by wild animals.
They jointly put-forth that 'The government should pay the compensation directly to the farmer instead of en-routing it through the officials. The compensation proposed by the government does not match the cost of the damage at all. And, the time frame and the formalities to sanction the compensation is too long, by the time the compensation reaches the farmer, his losses would have doubled up.
Many times, there is no threat for animals from humans. It is actually the other way round, there is a huge threat to humans (farmers) by wild animals. To the contrary, most of the times environmentalists allege the farmers who cultivate crops adjacent to the boundary lines of the forest area for interfering in the lives of wild animals and obstructing elephant corridors.
Villagers from regions like Thondamuthur, Alandurai, Thadagam, Kovanur, Tholampalayam, Vellinagadu, Kandiyur are involved in agriculture for thousands of years, without any problem. This animal interference issue is more prevalent only in the past 10 years. The actual reason for the animals routing into villages and farmlands should be ascertained rather than asking us cultivate crops that does not attract the wild animals.
If this trend continues we will not be able to see millets and grains in future.The government should decide who is important 'wild animals or the humans'. If an elephant is found dead in a farmland, cases are been filed against the farmers. But, if an elephant kills a human, no case is filed against the forest department? In the state of Kerala and north eastern states permission has been granted to the farmers to use rubber bullets to keep wild animals away. In spite of continued animal interference, here in Tamil Nadu, the farmers are given no such provisions. We continue to suffer'.
Central Cooperative President Sakthivel, Tamil Nadu Farmer’s Association President Palanisamy, Farmers Association President Valukkuparai Balu, District Forest Department Officials, Forest Guards, Coimbatore District Farmers, member of voluntary organisations among others participated in this meeting.