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The recent incidents involving the tusker Arikomban in Kerala and later in Tamil Nadu have sparked a furore among the public and unsettled government officials in both states. There was an outpouring of sentiment from stakeholders on the rough handling of the elephant.
However, the issue of Arikomban is just one incident of hundreds of such incidents every year but there is no comprehensive review of public policies nor coordinated action by relevant government departments in Tamil Nadu to substantially reduce human-wildlife conflicts.
Conflict leads to the loss of human life, largely of poor farmers and labourers while guarding agricultural land or crops near the forests while sustainable and integrated solutions to mitigate the problem are yet to be framed by the governments. As early as 2018, a Union Government report on Human-Animal Conflict said: “recent studies revealed that the wild boar damage to different crops varies from 15-40 per cent”.
Tamil Nadu has nine major forest types ranging from wet evergreen forest to moist deciduous, dry deciduous, sholas, grasslands, and scrub forest. The Western Ghats, the longest hill range in the State is one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots and one of the three mega centres of endemism in India.
The conflict with animals has affected more than 12,000 acres of non-cultivable land. Due to this, landowners are unable to sell their property for non-agricultural purposes also, causing a financial crisis
Administratively, the forest areas are two types: Protected Forest (PF) and Reserved Forest (RF). Wildlife and human conflicts have become increasingly common in Tamil Nadu, with huge damage caused to people especially the farmers and their properties; the animals that cause the highest damage are elephants, wild boar, tigers, leopards, wild pigs, Indian gaur, bonnet macaques, marsh crocodiles and peafowl.
The Wildlife Census 2017 revealed that Tamil Nadu was home to 2,761 elephants, about 10% of India’s jumbo population of 29,964. The southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala together have about 44% of the country’s elephant population.
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According to conservationists, earlier, elephants would only raid villages on the fringes of forests, attracted by standing crops. But elephants are now frequently enter human habitations and fields located more than 5 kilometres from the forest boundary.
Major crops raided by elephants are paddy, banana, sorghum, areca nut, sugarcane, coconut, ragi, tomato, and mango though they leave marigolds, sapota, pearl millet, jatropha, and brinjal alone.
Every year, large farmers complain to District Collectors and Forests Officials that the juvenile wild boars multiply and continue to affect farmers by destroying crops in over 6,000 acres in Coimbatore district. The animals affected more than 12,000 acres of non-cultivable land. Due to this, landowners are unable to sell their property for non-agricultural purposes also, causing a financial crisis in the district.
Further, farmers said it is not only farmers near forest areas but also those in a 10 km radius of forests who are affected. A pack of more than ten wild boar can ruin an acre of cultivation in a single night. There is a structural issue in declaring wild boar as vermin in India.
In recent years, Tamil Nadu reported a total of 7,562 incidents of crop-raiding by wild animals over three years. Farmers often complain that the process of availing compensation is tedious. They have to obtain certifications from VAO, the Forest Department, and the Horticulture Department. They said the process was painstaking and the amount paid was too little compared to the losses suffered.
So far, the steps taken by the state Forest department have not effectively deterred the wild animals from entering agricultural lands in Tamil Nadu. The measures did not benefit either the wildlife or local communities including farmers. Very often, the farmers are either given inadequate compensation (60% or less) or given compensation too late. Though all affected farmers are not given compensation for all crops with the market price of the crops.
Special provisions for providing livelihood, health, and education for the affected children should be considered by the State when farmers or villagers who have lost the sole breadwinner due to Human-Elephant Conflict
The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has undertaken a study (2020) to find solutions with “Herboliv-Wild Animal Repellent” for wild boars raids on crops near forest areas in Coimbatore. But the outcome did not help farmers prevent the entry of wild boar, monkeys, gaur deer, and elephant.
Special provisions for providing livelihood, health, and education for the affected children should be considered by the State when farmers or villagers who have lost the sole breadwinner due to Human-Elephant Conflict
As compared to Tamil Nadu, Kerala has taken several measures to deter the wild boars: gun licenses of farmers living in vulnerable areas in all districts are being renewed and issued. The state also has empowered local authorities to legally exterminate wild boars that may be posing a threat to life, property, and agriculture.
An independent study done by wildlife biologists Kalyanasundaram Ramkumar and Balasundaram Ramakrishnan found that “people’s perception of elephant depredation and conservation around Coimbatore forests has provided very interesting results. About 65% of people had experienced crop damage by elephants at least once in their lifetime”. A large number of people believed that reduced availability of elephant fodder species in the forests was largely responsible for elephant depredation of agricultural land.
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Based on years of research, veteran ecologist and environmentalist Prof. Madhav Gadgil says India’s Wildlife Protection Act is anti-people in many aspects, which needs to be corrected at the earliest.
- Prof Madhav Gadgil has extensively commented on wild boars’ menace faced by the farmers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
- He said there is a need to decentralise wildlife management, empowering local stakeholders on hunting regulations allowing wildlife to be legally killed in self -defence or defence of property as practised in different countries.
- Prof Gadgil has termed the current Wildlife Protection Act as the “anti-people, anti-nature and anti-science Forest Department that has precipitated a humongous human-wildlife conflict”.
People living in and around the forest area have natural rights to protect their life and property including culling wild boar when it damages their life and property without any restrictions. The state government should give importance to the life of people instead of wild animals. The State government has to create a comprehensive database with the help of technology for policy making. At present, there is no comprehensive database on farmers affected by wild animals in the state.
The State Government, farmers/villagers, and NGOs are the main stakeholders in finding permanent solutions for human-animal conflicts. The combined efforts for mitigating the human-elephant conflict are still not effectively coordinated for policy-making and implementation in Tamil Nadu. The formation of decentralised community team would help the effective management of human-animal conflicts in the state.
Therefore, there is a need to decentralise wildlife management by empowering local stakeholders including farmers who possess legal land titles on hunting regulations such as killing wildlife legally in self -defence or defence of property as practised in different countries. Drones’ technologies should be used to prevent wild elephants from entering into cropped areas.
(The author is an economist and public policy expert)
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