CHENNAI: Can bees be the 'peacemakers' in the human-elephant conflict in Tamil Nadu? In an innovative approach, the State forest department is in the process of putting up beehive fences to drive crop-raiding elephants away from tribal farmlands. Elephants can sense the buzzing of the bees from 1km away and find the sound annoying.
Taking a leaf out of Kenya and Tanzania's success stories, the State government has sanctioned `1.15 crore to pilot this eco-friendly project in the Coimbatore forest division. The proposal has been sent by the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation Limited (TANTEA) and an official order has been passed by Shambu Kallolikar, Principal Secretary, Department of Environment and Forests.
A senior forest official told Express, on the sidelines of a seminar on 'Climate Change Impacts on Forest Ecosystem and Enhancing Carbon Sink' here, that a total of 20 tribal families were carefully chosen as custodians for 2,000 beehive boxes to be placed at locations where elephants frequently trespass on the hamlets and raid crops.
"The 20 families represent 29 villages falling in seven forest ranges in Coimbatore division. Although using African and Italian bees were considered initially, it was decided to stick to Common Indian Bee or Little Bee on the grounds of feasibility, easy maintenance and local climatic conditions," the officer said.
The Keystone Foundation, an NGO working in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) with indigenous communities on improving their lives, has been roped in to provide training to the tribals. Forest officials say the success of the project depends on how best the beehive is maintained. "On an average, the queen bee lives for two years and the hive should be kept away from disturbances for the colony to thrive. It's a good livelihood option for the tribal families as well. A family will be given 10 boxes and they can easily harvest and sell 4-5 litres of honey once in four months, besides protecting their village from wild elephants."
The project was originally approved during the last budget, but since the northeast monsoon failed last year it could not be implemented. "We need good flowering to sustain the bees. This year, the monsoon is expected to bring bountiful rains and the flowering will start by the first week of December. We are planning to put the beehive fences around the same period," officials said.
In last three years, a whopping 126 people have died in elephant attacks in Tamil Nadu and the conflict is on the rise due to change in land-use patterns and fragmentation of elephant corridors.