Claiming that damage to agricultural crops by animals like wild boars was prevalent in several parts of the district, farmers demanded a long-lasting solution for the issue during the farmers’ grievance day meeting here on Friday.
V. Asokan, a State-level functionary of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, said that States like Himachal Pradesh and Goa had declared certain animals as vermin under the Wildlife Protection Act with the help of Central government.
“Tamil Nadu should not waste any time in requesting the Centre in declaring wild boar as a vermin,” he said.
He added that classifying the animal as vermin would allow permission in culling the animal for a certain period of time to control their population.
C. Kumarasamy, a farmer, said that farmers like him were incurring heavy losses because of wild animals.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao asked the Forest Department to study the affected areas and look for measures to minimise the damage caused by the animals. A section of farmers also complained about alleged adulteration in manufacture of cattle feed, which is done by many small-scale companies.
K.O. Navaneethan, a farmer from a village near Vadipatti and a former employee of a dairy company, alleged that adulteration was mainly prevalent in manufacture of a feed commonly called as ‘’biscuit feed’.
“Companies adulterate the feed with urea, expired biscuits and a variety of other items,” he alleged.
Responding to the complaint, the Collector said that a team comprising senior officials from departments like Animal Husbandry and Aavin will test samples in companies operating in the district and take appropriate action if issues are found.
Other issues like removal of prosopsis juliflora ( seemai karuvelam ) and cleaning of water bodies were also stressed at the meeting.
Joint Director (Agriculture) S. Kanagaraj and among others participated.
