Farmers lament over wild elephant encroachment

Gonikoppal, Feb. 20: Although the forest department officials are implementing various schemes to bring the encroachment of wild elephants to a standstill, the encroachment of wild elephants is not being controlled. Wild elephants coming from the forest edge are appearing in the farmers' gardens in herds and due to the problem of wild elephants, farmers are uprooting areca, coconut, coffee, and other plants growing there. Farmers are also attacking the pump sets used for irrigation of their crops and uprooting them. Due to this, the farmers are destitute and there is no one to listen to the farmers' lamentations.

Due to the continuous encroachment of wild elephants in the gardens of farmers and coffee growers of Kodagu, coffee and other crops in the farmers' coffee gardens are being destroyed. According to the forest department, hundreds of wild elephants have settled in the farmers' gardens in various parts of the district. The elephants are severely hindering the work of the plantations as they are residing in the plantations. The elephants, who are roaming from one plantation to another, are reluctant to move to the forest area.

The elephants, who used to eat the delicious jackfruit, banana, areca nut and other crops available in the coffee plantations, have also started eating the coffee fruit when it is ripe. This is causing hardship to the farmers. Many well-off coffee growers are trying to control the elephants by installing solar fences in their plantations and fields. However, once the elephants enter the plantations, they attack the same plantations in droves, damaging the plantation crops.

The herd of elephants that have been camping in the plantations are setting up a trap in the farmers' paddy fields at night and trampling and destroying the paddy fields, including the seedlings and the pea plants. Wild elephants are roaming around the coffee plantations, destroying the branches and trunks of coffee plants. They are destroying the banana and areca plants that farmers have grown.

Farmers are in trouble after losing the coffee plants that they have nurtured and grown for many years. The forest department staff, who inform them every day that there are wild elephants and advise them to be careful, are not responding to this despite the fact that the crop has been destroyed to such an extent. Although the forest department has made efforts to drive the wild elephants that have settled in the plantations back into the forest, the forest department staff are at a loss as the wild elephants that have gone to the forest are rejoining the farmers' coffee plantations within days.

The herd of wild elephants that are destroying a huge amount of crops in the plantations are not only wreaking havoc, but they are also trampling on the pipes installed by farmers in the coffee plantations for irrigation. They are descending on nearby lakes and damaging the water motors installed in the lakes. Due to this, the farmer is suffering losses on top of losses.

A herd of wild elephants has settled in the coffee plantation of Bojjangada Somanna, a farmer from Manchalli village in Srimangala hobli, causing immense loss by uprooting 188 areca nut trees and damaging sprinkler pipes. This has also put the farmers in the surrounding area in a situation where they cannot bear the threat of wild elephants.

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