BHUBANESWAR: In an effort to prevent human-elephant conflict and ensure food availability for the jumbos and other animals, the state government has directed divisional forest officers (DFOs) to identify land patches in their jurisdictions for cultivation of wild paddy varieties and other fodder plants ahead of the monsoon plantation drive.
Sources in the Forest department said the state wildlife wing has issued directions in this regard to all the wildlife and territorial divisions that either have elephant populations or witnessing elephant movement.
As it is, human-elephant conflict has emerged as a major concern in the state in recent times. Forest department statistics suggest that around 192 of the 210 human deaths recorded in 2025-26 were linked to elephant encounters. During the same period, the state also lost around 86 elephants due to multiple causes, including conflicts.
Officials pointed out that habitat loss and shrinking forest resources were increasingly pushing elephants towards forest-fringe villages, leading to large-scale crop depredation and conflict.
Under the habitat enrichment programme, DFOs have been asked to identify at least 20 hectare of land for fodder cultivation. Some wildlife divisions, including Chandaka, have reportedly been given cultivation targets of around 50 hectare.
The identified patches will be used to cultivate palatable grasses, wild paddy varieties, legumes and intercrops preferred by elephants and other herbivores. The plantations will initially be fenced to allow the crops to grow after which they will be opened for feeding. The patches may function as exclusive grain plots or be integrated with existing meadows.
Wildlife officials said habitat enrichment is a key strategy in elephant conservation. They said steps are being taken to develop meadows with fodder and fruit-bearing plants, ensure soil and moisture conservation and creation of water bodies to improve wildlife habitats.
Special emphasis is now being placed on growing paddy and native grasses in forest patches to improve food availability for elephants and reduce their movement into human settlements, the officials said.
Last year, CM Mohan Charan Majhi had asked forest authorities to promote paddy cultivation inside forests to curb rising man-elephant conflict. During a conference with DFOs, he had stressed on using open forest land for fodder cultivation to reduce crop raids by the jumbos.
