DAILEKH, Aug 13: Krishna Prasad Jaisi of Bhairabi Rural Municipality-5 in Dailekh spends the whole night on his farm to chase away animals that arrive to destroy the maize crop.
Jaisi is not the only one who has been undergoing sleepless nights for days to keep his crops safe from animals, especially wild boars and monkeys. Farmers have shared that these animals have already wreaked havoc on their maize crops, which they depend on for subsistence for six months of the year. But this is not just the case of Bhairabi Rural Municipality, it is a common phenomenon in many other parts of the district.
Villagers unable to get rid of monkey menace
The Agriculture Development Office (ADO), Dailekh, said 11 local units in the district face the menace of wild boars and monkeys which have caused significant harm to the farmers’ crops, including maize. ADO Chief Dashrath Pandey said the maize crop covers 21,175 hectares of land at 90 wards of all local governments in the district. Recently, attacks on crops by wild animals have increased, according to him.
As the maize crop season goes on, farmers continue to bear the losses due to damage caused by wild boars and monkeys and the ADO is not in a position to compensate them adequately.
Bhairabi Rural Municipality’s agriculture section chief Prakash Bhatarai said animals have destroyed crops on five to seven ropanis of land in just one ward.
However, a policy to compensate the farmers for the losses has not yet been formulated by the local governments. Efforts from the three-tier government are essential to address the situation.
(RSS)
