The problem of wild animals damaging standing crops has reached such a stage, especially in Adilabad district, that the Telangana government was rather forced to permit conditional killing of wild boars as a measure of crop protection. This may be good news for farmers but the government can consider options like use of the bio-acoustics machine, a recent invention by Hyderabad agriculture scientist V. Vasudeva Rao, which keeps the marauding herds of wild pigs and other animals away from the fields. “The solar-powered machine is nothing but recorded calls of predators like tigers played over an amplifier, especially at night. These calls scare the wild boars and other animals away from fields,” explained Bejjur Forest Range Officer M. Ram Mohan.
The remote Bejjur mandal in the district is one of the worst-hit places in terms of crop damage by wild animals. The machine promises to save precious money for the Forest Department which pays compensation for damaged crops though the scale may not be sufficient to meet the quantum of crop destruction.
“Man-animal conflict has peaked in my area and there is no agriculture field which is not attacked by the wild boar herds,” points out Mr. Ram Mohan.
“My maize field has not been attacked since I installed the machine about 25 days before harvesting the crop,” asserted farmer Junagari Sadashiva of Elkapalli village in the mandal. “Earlier, not a day passed without herds of wild boars damaging the crop,” he recalled.
Farmer Nikadi Mohan of Kushnepalli village who was also among the handful of farmers to have used the bio-acoustics machine this season also met with success. He could save crops worth thousands of rupees, thanks to it.
The machine costs about Rs. 25,000 though its commercial production is some more time away.
The farmers can exercise the option of going in for a loan for the purpose as the Deccan Grameena Bank has evinced interest in funding its purchase.
No comments:
Post a Comment