TIRUCHY: Farmers in the district, particularly those in areas bordering forests, complain of significant losses to their corn, grain and coconut cultivation from the increasing monkey menace. While Naganallur in Thuraiyur taluk is known for paddy and corn cultivation, E Suresh, a farmer from the village, said he is finding it difficult to cultivate corn as the “monkeys eat away everything or damage the crop.”
“In our village family members take turns to guard the fields but our efforts are futile in front of the monkeys that arrive in groups,” he said. Mentioning the problem to have been there for around ten years and it only getting worse, Suresh said that the simians invade even their homes.
Locals also come under their threat when stepping out of their village to sell produce, he added. Echoing his view of the simian menace as being on the rise, M Maruthamuthu, a farmer from Mukkombu, said,
“We have submitted several proposals to the Forest Department, but no concrete action has been taken yet. In my area coconut farmers suffer because not even a single coconut remains on the tree when monkeys invade. Instead of strengthening forest boundaries, authorities allow encroachments instead.”
While a forest official remarked how the issue of monkey menace finds way in every monthly farmers’ grievance redress meeting at the district Collectorate, the department official added, “Urbanisation and other projects have periodically destroyed forest areas.
The imli (tamarind) trees along the highways have become rare. We catch monkeys when complaints arise, but no matter how far we take them, they return to the exact spot.” When contacted, Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change & Forests Department, said,
“We need to look at the reasons for the conflict. In some places people give the monkeys food and train them for consumption of such items. We cannot blame the monkeys for it. In human-animal conflict we need to take steps suited to the local needs and are conservation-oriented.”