Achham Locals Guard Corns, Brave Night

Farmers here stay awake throughout nights to protect corn plantations from wild animals. Farmers set up tents in their farmland and stay awake throughout nights to save ripe corn from wild animals.

 "Monkeys destroy corn during the day and wild boars damage during night. We cannot sleep," said Durga Prasad Dhungana, a farmer of Mangalsen Municipality-7. Farmers have constructed scarecrows, played musical instruments and made noises to scare off wild animals.

 Monkeys and wild boars have destroyed corn in the farmlands, said a farmer Prem Bhandari. "We have to stay awake throughout the night. We cannot know when wild boars come and enter the village," said Bhandari.

 They are unable to control the menace of monkeys and wild boars, he said. The local government should come up with a plan to control monkeys and wild boars, he said. Farmers are worried after monkeys and wild boars have started damaging corns.

Monkeys in various villages of the district have started destroying crops including corn. They are unable to save corn even when they guard against wild animals from the morning to the evening, complained farmers. One person has been killed and two others injured in the attacks of wild animals in the past three months. The government would provide Rs 1 million to the family of the deceased and manage treatment for the injured ones, said Bimal Chand, forest officer for the Division Forest Office.

According to him, recommendations have been received for providing compensations to 118 farmers for their crops destroyed by wild animals, and Rs 10,000 would be provided to each affected farmer after the evaluation committee of the Division Forest Officer collects details of the loss.

Twenty nine cattle of 16 farmers have been killed in the attacks of tiger and leopard, and Rs 10,000 will be provided for a goat or billy goat killed, and Rs 60,000 for a cow or an ox or a buffalo killed, said the Division Forest Office.

They are forced to quit their ancestral occupation of agriculture after wild animals start destroying crops, said farmers. As a result, they are seeking alternatives to agriculture. ---