The Nilgiris : The residents of Mullimalaikandi, Gandhipuram, Kerapaadu, Mulligoor Ada and Lawrence neae Manjoor in the Nilgiris district have urged the forest officials to speed up the process of chasing the wild elephant herd which has been rampaging their vegetable farms over the past week.
The Nilgiris : The residents of Mullimalaikandi, Gandhipuram, Kerapaadu, Mulligoor Ada and Lawrence neae Manjoor in the Nilgiris district have urged the forest officials to speed up the process of chasing the wild elephant herd which has been rampaging their vegetable farms over the past week.
"We have harvested vegetables like Carrot, Long beans, Zucchini, Chow Chow, Brocolli in over 10 acres of land. Due to frequent elephant rampage, farmers here are facing huge losses and difficulty in cultivating crops on time. From the past week, a herd of five elephants including a calf are camping at our farmland causing severe damage to the vegetable crops", noted a farmer from Mullimalaikandi near Manjoor.
Photo: Illustrative
The farmers also lamented that leopard movement and elephant rampaging has shattered their hopes of rearing cattle and pursuing farming in their areas. They opined that their lives have become very unproductive due to persistent elephant movement, as they are struck in their homes after 4 pm.
"The forest officials have to initiate stringent steps to chase the herd which intrude into agricultural lands. These days farming is not a easy job at all. Factors like climate, rainfall, infestations, financial requirement, market conditions have to fall in place at the right time for the farmer to take a bounty. Even if one of the factor slips, the farmer will have to suffer severe losses. In this uncertain situation, wild animals rampaging is an added nightmare for us. The delay by the forest department in chasing elephant herds back into forests, allows the herd to get more lured towards farmlands and continue massive destruction", opined a farmer from Manjoor.
If such situations prevail, farmers in our area will gradually switch over to other jobs over farming, the farmer grieved.
The farmers of the region have jointly appealed to the forest department to chase the elephant herds that intrude into agricultural lands at the earliest. "As summer is nearing, the forest department have to setup separate vigil teams to monitor wild elephant movement", the farmers demanded.