Fear of attacks by wild boar, monkeys and other forest fauna might keep the Telangana farmers stuck to cotton in coming Kharif too, notwithstanding Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s directions for alternative cropping.
At a review meeting on drought here on Friday, Mr. Rao asked officials to encourage farmers to plant alternative crops, as market for cotton was expected to come down.
Vissa Kiran Kumar from Rythu Swarjya Vedika vouches that wild boar, along with monkeys and peafowl had become a menace for farmers in Telangana.
Dry crops
“During our studies, we came to know that many farmers were planting cotton for the fear of wild animal attacks on food crops, though the land here was suitable for dry crops such as millets, oilseeds and pulses,” says Mr. Kiran Kumar.
Orders by the Telangana Government permitting wild boar culling in a limited way have not yielded any results so far, due to enormous delay and allegedly faulty approach to the issue.
The government had issued a memo last November permitting wild boar culling through Forest Department, but the order for constitution of a panel of ‘renowned shots’ was issued only on March 16.
Though the panel comprises eight persons with licenses from Rifle Association of India, not even one boar has been culled so far, sources from the Forest Department informed.
Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) have been delegated the powers to request for culling, but they claim that no farmer had approached them with request for culling.
Notwithstanding claims, wild boar attacks on standing crops had increased over the years and various methods adopted by farmers did not yield results.
“Even bio-acoustic machines with recorded roars of predators have failed. The animals have got used to the calls over time,” an official informed.
Nawab Shafat Ali Khan, a panel member who has killed more than 300 wild boars in Maharashtra in the last six months, says the panel selection was faulty.
Shooter selection
“Almost all are target shooters. They have no experience in hunting wild animals. Why would anybody volunteer without payment, if not to flaunt their firearms with impunity?” he questions, and adds that government’s approach was unscientific.
“They should learn from other states such as Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, where the number of wild boars in each area is first ascertained through camera traps. Then the Government decides how many are to be culled and provides all facilities for the hunter along with payment,” Mr. Khan says.
A female should not be shot as per the existing legislations, but no such mention finds place in the Forest Department circular, he points out.
Also absent is the condition that animals should not be killed within 10-kilometres of the forest boundaries.
Mr. Khan further says long-term measures to ensure food and water supply to wild animals within the forest alone will keep them away from crops.
Culling should be the last option.
